The Detroit Pistons entered the All-Star break with the top record in the NBA and their large contingent at Sunday night’s All-Star Game proved why.
The USA Stars — featuring Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren and the entire Pistons’ coaching staff led by J.B. Bickerstaff — took the top prize in the first three-team edition of the event, after besting many of the elite players in the NBA in a four-game tournament.
The new format saw the pool of All-Star separated into three teams, one representing international players and two teams for U.S. players, putting primarily younger players on USA Stars and veterans on USA Stripes.
After a round-robin of three 12-minute games played between the teams, the two U.S. teams advanced to the championship matchup. But following Stripes’ win in the first meeting, youth prevailed the second time around.
Stars got out to a quick 12-1 lead behind a surge from the Philadelphia 76ers’ Tyrese Maxey. Duren, in his debut All-Star game, punished a Stripes team without a true center for a pair of makes and Stars charged out to a 17-point advantage, which Stripes never recovered from.
Across all three games, Cunningham totaled 15 points, seven assists, seven rebounds, three steals and three blocks. Duren posted 15 points, 11 rebounds and three assists.
Winning the championship game nets all of the players on the victorious team a $125,000 award. The runner-up players earned $50,000 and players on the third-place team received $25,000.
Duren scored the first points in USA Stars’ opening game against Team World, finishing a lob provided by Maxey.
Cunningham was leading the charge defensively, a rarity in most All-Star games, taking the chance to block a Jamal Murray layup out on the fastbreak. He would finish with four points, three steals and three rebounds in the opening game.
A steal-and-score from Cunningham helped push the game into overtime at 32. It was first to five points to decide the matchup and after Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards — who would win All-Star MVP — hit a fadeaway jumper, Cunningham and Duren played key roles in working the ball around the court to set up Scottie Barnes for the game-winning three.
Duren notched the official assist on the basket, giving him two points, four rebounds and three assists for the game.
Stars went right back to work against Stripes, seeing the Pistons’ contingent provide almost half of the team’s points. Cunningham scored 11 and had four assists while Duren added seven points and a trio of rebounds.
They connected early as Cunningham dished a dime to the center to finish through contact from Jalen Brunson and convert a three-point play.
Despite going down as much as eight, Cunningham closed the gap to one late in the matchup off a triple. Edwards gave USA Stars a lead with 20 seconds to go, but De’Aaron Fox hit a buzz-beater for the 42-40 win.
Kawhi Leonard, playing on his home court at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., dropped an incredible 31 points including the game-winning three-pointer with 3.5 seconds to go for Stripes to eliminate Team World and set up a rematch with USA Stars in the championship game.
After the first three games were all decided by three or fewer points, the finale was a blowout as Stars shot 40% from the field to Stripes’ 26% ending in a 47-21 win for the younger squad.
Scoring 33 points across all three games, Edwards earned MVP honors, but it was a big night for the representatives from the Pistons, getting to show out before getting back to what’s been an historic first 53 games of the 2025-26 season.
USA Stars vs. Team World Box Score
USA Stars vs. USA Stripes Box Score
USA Stripes vs. Team World Box Score
USA Stars vs. USA Stripes Championship Box Score