The NBA officially unveiled the 28-player pool for this year’s Rising Stars event on Tuesday, making the announcement via the NBA App. The following players made the cut:
Rookies:
- Paolo Banchero (Magic)
- Jalen Duren (Pistons)
- AJ Griffin (Hawks)
- Jaden Ivey (Pistons)
- Walker Kessler (Jazz)
- Bennedict Mathurin (Pacers)
- Keegan Murray (Kings)
- Andrew Nembhard (Pacers)
- Jabari Smith (Rockets)
- Jeremy Sochan (Spurs)
- Jalen Williams (Thunder)
Sophomores:
- Jose Alvarado (Pelicans)
- Scottie Barnes (Raptors)
- Josh Giddey (Thunder)
- Jalen Green (Rockets)
- Quentin Grimes (Knicks)
- Bones Hyland (Nuggets)
- Evan Mobley (Cavaliers)
- Trey Murphy III (Pelicans)
- Alperen Sengun (Rockets)
- Franz Wagner (Magic)
G League players:
- Sidy Cissoko (Ignite)
- Mojave King (Ignite)
- Scoot Henderson (Ignite)
- Kenneth Lofton Jr. (Grizzlies/Hustle)
- Mac McClung (Blue Coats)
- Leonard Miller (Ignite)
- Scotty Pippen Jr. (Lakers)
As was the case last season, the Rising Stars event will consist of four teams and three games. The seven G League players will comprise one team, coached by longtime NBA guard Jason Terry. The other 21 players will be drafted to three squads coached by former NBA stars Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah, and Deron Williams.
The four teams will be split into two first-round matchups and the winners of those two games will face one another for the Rising Stars championship. The two semifinals will be played to a target score of 40 points, while the final will be played to a target score of 25 points.
All three contests will take place on Friday, February 17 as part of All-Star weekend in Salt Lake City. The NBA’s full press release with more information on the event can be found right here.
The young talent in the league rn is absolutely ridiculous. Tbh the shot making overall in the nba is just incredible. But the youngsters like Paolo just give me chills sometimes to see how unbelievably talented nba level guys are nowadays.. link to m.youtube.com
Youngster lookin way more aerodynamic these days since he cut his hair. Either way he’s a natural bucket getter & will hopefully be a Hawk for a very long time… link to m.youtube.com
Sounds fun,!
Joakim as coach. How awesome is that?
“Come on bro we’re not doubling in the Rising Stars.”
“Yeah we are, yeah we are, yeah we are.”
In a different season Paolo, Franz and Green’s numbers would give them the argument of AS let alone Rising stars….Not to mention if Cade had been fit!
21/22 drafts were DEEP(as many predicted) for a while I was worried the future of the NBA would be overloaded with aging stars and not enough talent to pass the torch, but with the players showing out over the last few drafts I’m excited for the future! Not to mention the 23 draft.
How does Kuminga not make the sophomore team? the guy has more talent than most of those other players. A couple of those on the sophmore team are not better than Kuminga.
It’s a weird one. I agree Kuminga has a higher ceiling than a fair few of the sophomores included And will be a good player.
But based on this season he’s actually worse than his rookie season. Even going by his numbers alone(especially on a “contender”) he isn’t playing better than the guys included.
Murphy, Bones,Grimes & Alvarado are the ones I’d say he will most likely be better than in the long run.
But based on how they’re playing he don’t deserve a spot over them. All other are both playing better and probably have higher ceilings.
Ah, so it’s Mac McClung Weekend now?
Now that Deron Williams is coaching, he can finally intrigue against himself.
I’m also pretty certain that I’ve once spotted the elusive Mojave King during a nightly drive on I-15 somewhere between Vegas and Barstow in 2009.