February 15, 2026
Kirby Lee/Imagn Images
Tyrese Maxey brought his talents to the NBA All-Star Game for the second time on Sunday.
Tyrese Maxey made his second NBA All-Star Game appearance on Sunday in Los Angeles, and while he did not earn MVP honors like backcourt mate VJ Edgecombe did in Friday's annual Rising Stars competition, he is going home a winner. Maxey and a crop of the league's young, emerging forces – known as USA Stripes – banded together to beat a group of international stars before getting revenge on an older group of American fixtures in the championship of the new All-Star Game format, which is sure to draw rave reviews after the quality of Sunday's action.
The revamped structure of the All-Star Game: three teams (the Maxey-led USA Stripes, the USA Stars and Team World) faced off in a round-robin format, where each team played the other two teams in a 12-minute game. The top two teams advanced to the title game, also a 12-minute contest.
USA Stripes took on Team World to kick off the night, with a jarring clash of styles: Maxey was one of four guards starting in front of Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren, but the squad of international players started a double-big lineup with Nikola Jokić and Victor Wembanyama.
Maxey missed a pair of early triples in the opening contest, but did collect assists on two of his team's first three baskets – first throwing a lob to Duren and then finding Devin Booker for a triple. Maxey made a hustle play to save a ball from going out of bounds (Maxey continually promised he would bring as much effort as he could to the All-Star Game), which netted his team a bucket. Maxey got on the board himself soon after, blowing by Wembanyama and drawing a goaltending violation. Maxey's first shot, in which the ball actually went through the basket, came a bit later, when he split two defenders, passed, relocated, got the ball back and drove for a bucket:
.@TyreseMaxey on the board! (not counting a goal tend) pic.twitter.com/l0yYsMX6lp
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) February 15, 2026
Maxey played the first seven minutes and 29 seconds of that opening contest before checking out with four points, three rebounds, two assists and a block. He sat for the remainder of the contest. At the end of 12 minutes, the two teams were tied, triggering an "overtime" in which the first team to five points would win. USA Stripes pulled off the victory behind a game-winner from Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes.
That set up a game for Maxey's squad against USA Stars, led by LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Jaylen Brown and Jalen Brunson. Maxey got on the board nearly five minutes in:
rese doing his thing. 🏃♂️💨 pic.twitter.com/TuFD5LhQea
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) February 15, 2026
Maxey played a quiet stint of seven minutes and 53 seconds, scoring two points before checking out with his team trailing 26-22. He remained seated for the remainder of the contest, with his team falling short in a 42-40 loss after San Antonio Spurs point guard De'Aaron Fox swished a buzzer-beating triple to win. Leonard went completely nuclear in the following game, scoring 31 points in 12 minutes to lead USA Stripes past Team World, which was eliminated.
That set up a championship game between Maxey's USA Stars and the veteran-laden USA Stripes. Maxey was matched up with a familiar foe in Brunson. He scored an early basket on another goaltending violation, this time, it was Maxey's friend James who swatted his shot a tick too late.
Maxey's best sequence of the day came a bit later on: he scored over the outstretched arm of Durant after blowing by him off the dribble, then picked off a lazy James pass in the backcourt and immediately knocked down a 31-footer:
Maxey 5 QUICK pts and the young guns are up BIG! 12-1 pic.twitter.com/BDVkJhJ7SG
— MavsHighlights (@MavsHighlights) February 16, 2026
After a pair of misses on corner threes came another blow-by; this time, Maxey dusted James at the end of the shot clock and flipped in a difficult layup. He got an impressive one-on-one stop against Brunson, leading to a triple for his teammate and friend Anthony Edwards. It forced a USA Stripes timeout, with Maxey leading USA Stars to a 26-9 lead in the first half of the game.
Maxey was on the floor for the first eight minutes and 51 seconds of the title game, scoring nine points on eight shots while notching three steals. Team Stars outscored Team Stripes by 22 points during Maxey's action in that game, easily sealing a victory as he sat for the final minutes.
All along, Maxey was insistent that he was going to Los Angeles to win, and he is now 2-0 as an All-Star Game participant. The fear of another lackadaisical All-Star Game did not come to fruition, in part because a handful of youngsters like Maxey, Edwards and Wembanyama brought genuine intensity to the games. With the bar raised, many of the older players in the All-Star Game responded. It is a clear success for the NBA.
