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The NBA All-Star Weekend is not only an opportunity for the league to showcase its biggest and brightest stars, but also its future.

The NBA’s Rising Stars Game will feature the league’s young stars, including rookies Cooper Flagg (Dallas Mavericks), Kon Knueppel (Charlotte Hornets) and VJ Edgecombe (Philadelphia 76ers).

The trio also makes up the top 3 in the NBA's Rookie of the Year race, according to odds on BetMGM.

Tankathon: The NBA's tanking crisis — and why Adam Silver can’t ignore it

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Flagg (-1000) is considered the favorite, followed by Knueppel (+600) and Edgecombe (+8000).

Flagg has averaged 20.3 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game in 48 games played this season.

All three rookies were selected in the first round by the game's honorary coaches. NBA alumnus Carmelo Anthony, Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter are serving as the honorary coaches for the three respective teams. Austin Rivers will also coach a team made up of G League players.

The four teams will compete in a mini tournament at the Intuit Dome. A winner will be decided in the semifinal games when a team is the first to reach or surpass 40 points. The championship game winner will be decided with the first team to reach or surpass 25 points.

Baron Davis and Quentin Richardson were among the former NBA players to have played in the game.

Richardson was a participant in the game when it was referred to as the NBA Rookie-Sophomore Challenge in 2002. Davis competed in the game a year prior.

Looking ahead at this year’s talent, Davis mentioned Flagg, Edgecombe, Derik Queen and Kyshawn George as players he’s excited to watch.

“All these young kids are so good now,” Davis said. “To watch them play and go at each other will be a different type of vibe and be highly competitive. They all want to be No. 1.”

Richardson believes the game and weekend will serve as a rewarding experience for the younger talent, especially those willing to make the most of it.

“I would say to take part in the weekend,” Richardson said. “I know, as some of the younger players, they will have to make appearances and things like that, but that was one of the things I was happy to do. … Sometimes you go to those events and have a great time and meet people you wouldn’t have met.

“Don’t be the guy who’s just turning things down. That’s what the weekend is about: Having fun, but there’s also a lot of business around that weekend.”

Even in the years following his retirement, Davis has served as an example for the younger generation of players when it comes to staying involved within the NBA off-court community and activities.

Davis served as a host for a competition put on by the NBA Foundation and the LA Clippers.

The All-Star pitch competition brought Los Angeles-based companies focused on driving community impact to pitch innovation solutions to a panel of business leaders, investors and other entrepreneurs.

The competitors are competing for $200,000 in total cash prizes.

“What is super exciting is that there are so many young and great minds, especially in this city of Los Angeles, that are building businesses that can be extremely explosive and that can create a lot of jobs,” Davis said. “What the NBA is doing with the foundation and really pouring into the entrepreneurs is not just with the competition, but it's also the time and the platform they are allowing them to stand on.”

Who will play in the NBA Rising Stars Game?

Team Melo: Cooper Flagg, Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper, Jeremiah Fears, Donovan Clingan, Collin Murray-Boyles

Team T-Mac: Kon Knueppel, Kel’el Ware, Alex Sarr, Tre  Johnson, Ajay Mitchell, Jaylon Tyson, Cam Spencer.

Team Vince: VJ Edgecombe, Derik Queen, Kyshawn George, Matas Buzelis, Egor Demin, Cedric Coward, Jaylen Wells.

Team Austin: Sean East II, Ron Harper Jr., Yanic Konan Niederhauser, Alijah Martin, Tristen Newton, Yang Hansen, Mac McClung, David Jones Garcia.

NBA Rising Stars Game Schedule

• Game 1: Team Melo vs. Team Austin
• Game 2: Team Vince vs. Team T-Mac
• Rising Stars Championship: (G1 winner vs. G2 winner)

How to watch NBA Rising Stars Game?

• When: Friday, Feb. 13, 6 p.m. PT (9 p.m. ET)
• TV/Stream: Peacock
• Where: Intuit Dome (Inglewood, California) | Tickets

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NBA Rising Stars Challenge rosters set for NBA All-Star Weekend

LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Liverpool's season has been far from perfect. Now coach Arne Slot says the remainder of the campaign will have to be near-faultless if the defending Premier League champion is to secure Champions League qualification.

It says everything about Liverpool's ever-worsening title defense that Slot is focusing on a top-four finish with 13 rounds still to play.

But Sunday's dramatic 2-1 loss to Manchester City was the Merseysiders' eighth defeat in the league this season and left them 17 points adrift of first-place Arsenal.

Liverpool is still in the Champions League and the FA Cup, so there is a lot yet to play for. But in the Premier League, at least, Slot, who won the title in his debut season last year, has had to lower his sights.

Speaking ahead of Wednesday's game at Sunderland, Slot said his team had to be “close to perfection” to secure a place in next season's Champions League.

The top four places qualify for European club soccer's elite competition. England is likely to receive a fifth spot because of the performances of English teams in Europe this season.

Liverpool is sixth — five points behind Manchester United in fourth — and four back from fifth-place Chelsea.

“So to close the gap of four or five points towards the number three, four or five that means you have to win a lot,” Slot said Tuesday. “And that’s not what we’ve done this season a lot, so that’s why that has to be better and we have to come close to perfection.

“If we don’t have Champions League football it has definitely not been an acceptable season.”

Liverpool has won one of its last seven Premier League games and Slot said it was the most challenging season he has had as a coach.

“The players are not used to losing a lot or having a lot of draws. I’m not used to that as well,” he said. "It’s always more of a challenge after you lose a game of football to get them going again than after a win (and) telling them we were not as good as they might think they were.

“So, yes, this season has been more challenging for me as well, but you also take nice things out of it, weird (as) that may sound because I also look at how much improvement we are making.”

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Vibes matter in the NBA. They always have.

The Cleveland Cavaliers built a historic 64-win team last year largely on vibes. Sure, immense talent across the roster is a barrier for entry. But we’ve seen talented squads struggle to play with the joy and harmony the Cavaliers played with last season.

Even the Cavs themselves had trouble replicating it.

This team fell flat on its face in the first two months of the season. Constant injuries threw multiple curveballs at them, while disappointing efforts and dysfunctional chemistry led to a 17-16 record by late December. Nothing was working, and the team was running out of time to figure it out.

During that brutal stretch to open the season, Kenny Atkinson referenced his championship with the Golden State Warriors — and how adversity can be par for the course.

“Everyone thinks it’s a smooth ride, but it definitely isn’t smooth,” Atkinson said. “That year we won the championship, I think we had a stretch where we went 7-16, we lost 9-out-of-11 at one point, 7-of-8 [in a different stretch] — nothing was screaming championship that season, as a matter of fact, it was like ‘oh my gosh, this is falling apart.”

That quote feels more relevant now, on February 10th, as the Cavaliers have won 16 of their last 21 games and have the best record in basketball since December 29th. They’ve turned things around in the midst of more injuries and franchise-altering trades.

All the while, they feel more legit than ever before as a result of overcoming their slow start.

“We’re continuing to show that [toughness],” said Sam Merrill after Cleveland’s latest win over the Denver Nuggets. “I say this all the time, it hasn’t been perfect this year. Wasn’t perfect last year, but I think this group is continuing to grow.”

The Cavs began their recent road trip with a few devastating blows. Darius Garland had re-injured his toe just a few games before the trip, while Evan Mobley would go down with another calf injury shortly after. So, Cleveland hit the West Coast undermanned and was promptly dismantled by the Phoenix Suns. It felt like this could be another two steps backwards for a team that had just started to gain momentum in January.

Instead, the team rattled off four consecutive wins and picked up some new talent along the way.

Jarrett Allen put up a historic 40 points and 17 rebounds to beat the Blazers. After that, the Cavs dealt Garland for 11-time All-Star James Harden in a gutsy, all-in move that shocked the NBA. Cleveland proceeded to thrash the LA Clippers one night after the trade — before welcoming Harden to their lineup for a thrilling win over the Sacramento Kings later that week.

The Cavs then traveled to Denver for their final game of the trip. Playing in high altitude after a grueling two-weeks away from home took a visible toll on them. They looked exhausted, at times, and trailed for 43 minutes of the game. Yet they never folded, and it was a combination of Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, and Jarrett Allen who pulled this team across the finish line for their fourth straight win.

“We found a way to get it done,” said Harden. “It’s our second game [together]. No practices, a couple of film sessions, not the way it’s supposed to happen.”

Getting this team back into a groove is one thing. Inserting another ball-dominant guard into the mix without throwing off the chemistry is another challenge altogether. Pulling off both of those feats in consecutive comeback victories is special. This Cavs team is harkening back to the good vibes that made them successful a year ago.

“There are so many things that we’ve found, and we still haven’t practiced yet,” said Mitchell. “We’re just hoopin off vibes.”

Talent can only get you so far. The Cavs saw this for themselves in November and December. But as the front office pushes the right buttons to add more talent to the roster, the Cavaliers have responded by getting themselves organized and on the same page. Winning only makes the process that much easier. Just as quickly as things fell apart, they can come back together again.

“It’s go time,” said Harden, before heading back to Cleveland for his home debut. You won’t want to miss it.

The NBA trade deadline charts the course for the rest of the season, and now it’s in the rearview mirror ahead of the 2026 playoffs. In the wake of the trade wreckage, there’s a small inner circle of championship contenders, and a slightly larger group of teams with a puncher’s chance of winning it all. Some teams, even good ones, realized they probably have no shot at the title, so they decided to simply cut their payroll or make smaller moves around the margins that could impact the roster next year. Then there are the teams whose top objective was maximizing their ping-pong balls for the upcoming NBA Draft lottery for a stacked 2026 class with three potential No. 1 overall talents leading the way. Read our latest 2026 NBA mock draft for more on this class.

It was easy to see a massive tank race eventually forming even before this season started. Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, Duke forward Cameron Boozer, and BYU wing A.J. Dybantsa were all no-brainer elite prospects coming out of high school who were destined to leave NBA GMs salivating. When North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson and Houston guard Kingston Flemings also emerged as excellent prospects in their own right, the 2026 draft had a legit top-5 that rivals any in my 13 years on the beat here.

The current NBA rookie class is already so good, and next year’s could be even better. As the trades were going down on deadline day, I noticed there were a ton of teams incentivized to lose every game the rest of the season if they could. It might be even worse than it looks:

Three of the biggest trades at the deadline involved tanking teams as buyers: the Jazz acquired Jaren Jackson Jr. for a package headlined by three future first-round picks, the Wizards made a shocking deal for Anthony Davis, the Pacers went out and got Ivica Zubac for two premium future first round picks. Does that mean that these teams are going to start trying to win games immediately?

Of course not! Utah’s pick is top-8 protected to the Thunder, and they just pulled all of their starters with a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter and lost. The Wizards have already indicated Davis and Trae Young probably won’t play a game for the organization this season. Zubac had been healthy and productive for the Clippers this season, and now the Pacers will have to figure out how to proceed with him after trading a top-4 protected 2026 first-round pick that morphs into an unprotected 2031 first-rounder if it lands in the protected zone.

NBA draft lottery odds by spot and rules

The bottom three teams all have a 14 percent chance at the No. 1 overall pick and a 52.1 percent chance to land in the top-four. Final lottery positioning is still important: teams can only fall a maximum of four spots after the lottery, meaning the team that finishes with the worst record can do no worse than the No. 5 pick, the team with the second-worst record can’t fall further than No. 6, and so on.

Here are the odds for the No. 1 pick and each top-4 slot from every spot in the lottery:

At this point, the entire bottom-10 is incentivized to try to lose out. Let’s run through the stakes for each team looking at the standings as of Tuesday morning:

1. Sacramento Kings (12-43): Tried to win with veterans like Zach LaVine, Domantas Sabonis, Russell Westbrook, and DeMar DeRozan, but never had any chance. The roster never fit, and most of the key pieces struggle to impact winning despite putting up solid numbers. This tank is as ethical as it gets, but this franchise just feels hopeless.
2. Indiana Pacers (13-40): Gap year without Tyrese Haliburton. Pick is traded to the Clippers for Zubac, 1-4 protected. The Pacers basically decided they only want Boozer, Peterson, Dybantsa, or Wilson, and were otherwise willing to give up the pick. Pacers brass is going to be watching the lottery with bated breath. Indy deserves lottery luck more than any other team after watching Haliburton get hurt in Game 7 of the NBA Finals last year.
3. Washington Wizards (14-38): The Wizards will be resting Trae Young and Anthony Davis the rest of the season it seems. Washington’s rebuild could suddenly look really interesting if they can land inside the top-4.
4. New Orleans Pelicans (15-40) -> Atlanta Hawks: The Pelicans traded their unprotected 2026 first-round pick to Atlanta to move up to select Derik Queen. New Orleans was always in danger of being horrible this season, and that’s exactly what happened. The Hawks played their cards perfectly and could luck into a top prospect without tanking.
5. Brooklyn Nets (15-37): The Nets owe a pick swap to the Houston Rockets next year, so they need lottery luck now while they can still get it.
6. Utah Jazz (16-37): The Jazz are blatantly tanking by resting their starters in the fourth quarter. The Jazz would seemingly love to keep Dybantsa in Utah.
7. Dallas Mavericks (19-33): The Mavs have to get lucky in the lottery too without control of their first-round pick until 2031 due to trades the franchise made to build around Luka Doncic. Whoops. Dallas cashed in on a 1.8 percent chance from the No. 11 spot last year to Cooper Flagg, and needs to find him a co-star this year.
8. Memphis Grizzlies (20-31): Traded Jaren Jackson Jr. after trading Desmond Bane over the summer. The Grizzlies are loaded with future picks and are set to rebuild around Zach Edey, Cedric Coward, and the rest of their young core.
9. Milwaukee Bucks (21-30): The Bucks can pick as high as No. 2 this year with lottery luck, because the Hawks have the most favorable of their pick and the Pelicans’ pick. The front office probably wants the team to try to lose out, but will Giannis Antetokounmpo push them to compete if he comes back healthy?
10. Chicago Bulls (24-30): The Bulls have refused to tank for years, but finally played the role of sellers at the trade deadline. If the NBA wants to reward teams who don’t lose on purpose, the Bulls deserve some lottery luck. They haven’t had a top-3 pick since they selected Derrick Rose at No. 1 in 2008 despite having the NBA’s fifth-worst cumulative record since the start of the 2017-2018 season. The Bulls have some solid role players, but they haven’t had a superstar in a long, long time.

The NBA’s tanking problem could solve itself after this year … for a little bit

Why did the Jazz and Wizards both make win-now trades for veterans after being long-time tanking teams? My theory is because the 2027 NBA Draft doesn’t look like it’s worth tanking for. While we knew prospects like Victor Wembanyama, Cooper Flagg, and Cameron Boozer were studs by the time they were sophomores in high school, there’s no one that looks the part of a future NBA superstar yet in the current senior class. I’d say the top prospects in 2027 right now are Tyran Stokes, Caleb Holt, and Anthony Thompson, but none of them are even close to a sure thing. The 2028 NBA Draft also doesn’t have an obvious top prospect at this point.

Obviously, a lot can change between now and the day of the 2027 and 2028 drafts, but at this point I’m expecting weaker classes the next two years. I want to stress I could be very wrong about that, but it’s just how it feels right now based on the top player juniors and seniors plus the international classes. My guess is the Wizards and Jazz wouldn’t have made their deadline deals if another Wembanyama or Flagg was coming next year.

Every draft has good players, even bad ones. I covered the 2013 NBA Draft here when Anthony Bennett went No. 1. That was a bad draft. It also had two Hall of Famers picked after the lottery in Giannis Antetokounmpo and Rudy Gobert, plus a ton of solid players mixed in. My two cents is that every draft has good players, but not every draft is worth tanking for.

The NBA has already introduced anti-tanking measures this year. These are all up for debate:

There’s nothing the NBA can do this year to discourage tanking. I predict the next two years won’t have anything like this tank race.

The lottery has given us some true stunners in recent years. The Hawks moved from No. 10 in the lottery to the No. 1 pick in 2024. The Mavericks moved up from No. 11 to win the rights to Cooper Flagg. That’s some hope to cling to for Chicago, Milwaukee, and Memphis right now.

Most teams still have about 30 games left before the end of the year. That means there’s going to be a lot of bad basketball in the name of trying to get the best odds possible to land a top prospect. I don’t think this will be an issue every year, but there’s no saving the NBA’s competitive integrity for the rest of this season.