Winners and losers from NBA All-Star Weekend

It was exactly the kind of performance the NBA wants from its stars: competitive in trying to win the games, but with plenty of flash and showmanship.

Mac McClung:  The 26-year-old guard joined the pantheon of Dunk Contest greats by winning his third straight contest. He did a reverse dunk after jumping over a Kia, and that might have been only his third-most impressive dunk of the night.

McClung may not have a future as an NBA player, but he's an all-time dunk artist. Earning all 50's for his dunking is quite a feat, and it's hard to argue any of those scores was undeserved.

Stephon Castle: The Spurs rookie guard was everywhere on All-Star Weekend. He helped Chris Mullin's team advance out of the Rising Star round robin to play on Sunday, when his group of rookies and sophomores gave Shaq's "OG's" a run for their money, with Castle contributing six points, two assists and two steals. Castle also delivered a fantastic dunk-contest performance, and this was likely only the first of many All-Star appearances for him.

Trae Young:  Young only made the All-Star Game due to an injury to Giannis Antetokounmpo but proved to be a perfect All-Star player. He's content to distribute the ball to his star teammates instead of taking a ton of shots. Young's biggest weakness is defense, which is still mostly optional on All-Star Weekend, but his passing and fancy dribbling gives the game more layups and spectacular dunks and fewer long-range prayers.

Jayson Tatum:  Tatum scored 21 points in the semifinal and final combined, including the game-winning dunk. He played hard, showed off his skills and won the game, exactly what the NBA wants from its superstars. He and the Boston Celtics may be focused on repeating as champs, but Tatum and Jaylen Brown both brought it on Sunday.

Raphael Saadiq: Saddiq oversaw a medley of Bay Area anthems ranging from Metallica to Green Day to Souls Of Mischief with aplomb, all while looking nowhere near his 52 years of age. The television production had its flaws, but the music portion was on point.

Losers

TNT: The final All-Star Game to be broadcast on TNT featured far too much self-congratulation, including an extended tribute to "Inside The NBA" during the final that was longer than the game itself. It was especially baffling because "Inside The NBA" is continuing on next season on ESPN.

Kevin Hart told off-color jokes, the broadcasters snipped at each other instead of describing the game and TNT used 11 different broadcasters. The result was an overlong telecast with far more talking than basketball.

LeBron James and Anthony Edwards: It's one thing to sit out the All-Star Game because of an injury. It's another thing to pull out at the last second, too late for an injury replacement. James announced that his sore foot and sore ankle would keep him out of the contest roughly two hours before the game. Edwards' absence seemed to be a mystery even to the announcers, who only noticed after Team Kenny lost without him taking the court.

No one should begrudge the 40-year-old James for not wanting to play. But make that decision with some advance notice and let a deserving player like Domantas Sabonis or Norman Powell get an All-Star opportunity.

Donovan Mitchell: The Cavaliers guard shot 1-for-11 in his two games while turning the ball over three times. His consolation? Defeating teammates Darius Garland and Evan Mobley in the semifinal to preserve bragging rights.

Damian Lillard: It's hard to fault Lillard for his excellent participation at All-Star Weekend, held across the Bay from his hometown of Oakland. But Lillard failed to three-peat in the Three-Point Contest, losing in the first round. Then, he lost a shooting contest during an interminable Mr. Beast promotion. Finally, his team won in the final, but Lillard, the reigning All-Star MVP, didn't score a point in that contest. At least it was Dame Time at the end of the semifinal.

Draymond Green:  The Warriors power forward didn't like that the All-Star Game involved members of the Rising Stars, but Green's intense bitterness and repeated criticism of the format came off as angry and bitter. Worst of all, he wasn't funny. The most interesting thing Green did was to guarantee a Warriors title, but that was outweighed by him insulting the NBA's promising rookies and sophomores for three hours.