Rising Stars set to help kick off NBA All-Star

The NBA All-Star Game is returning to the Southland in two weeks and a half of the annual weekend event that has grown in recognition in current years is the Rising Stars Challenge, which affords followers the chance to watch the league’s top rookies and second-year gamers compete in a four-team match.

Rosters for the mini-tournament to happen on Friday, Feb. 13, at Intuit Dome had been drafted this week by a trio of Hall of Famers in Carmelo Anthony, Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter, who will be part of former NBA participant and current NBC/Peacock analyst Austin Rivers as the 4 honorary coaches (Rivers will coach the G League squad).

Anthony had the No. 1 choose and drafted Dallas rookie ahead Cooper Flagg. McGrady went next and selected Charlotte rookie guard/ahead Kon Knueppel while Carter opted for Philadelphia rookie guard VJ Edgecombe at No. 3. (Rosters hooked up at backside of story.)

Quentin Richardson, drafted by the Clippers with the 18th choose of the 2000 NBA draft, is aware of all three Hall of Famers properly. He was Anthony’s teammate on the New York Knicks in 2012-13 and confronted cousins McGrady and Carter many occasions throughout their respective careers. Richardson, now 45, enjoys All-Star Weekend and is delighted to see the festivities back in the town where his NBA journey began. A spotlight of his 13-year profession was making his last 9 photographs to win the three-point contest in 2005.

“I participated in the Saturday night rookie-sophomore game my first couple of years in the league and I just love the event,” said Richardson, who performed for the Clippers from 2000 to 2004 when they had been co-tenants with the Lakers at what was then called Staples Center, now Crypto.com Arena. “It’s a platform for the fans to look at the real future stars of the league, the up-and-comers, and with the international boom there’s so many different young international guys they may not know well from different teams that are out on display that weekend.

“It’s one of those weekends you always want to go to, you always want to be a part of.”

The Rookie Challenge was established in 1994 and featured two randomly chosen groups of first-year gamers. The identify was modified to Rising Stars Challenge in 2012 and the current tournament-style format was adopted 4 years in the past. Since 2023, the format has been 28 gamers — 21 rookies and sophomores and seven G League gamers.

“I’m intrigued by the format,” Richardson said. “When I played it was just the rookies and sophomores, two teams, but the kids have gotten behind this so the NBA has been very good about pivoting into different things to try to gain more excitement around the games for that weekend. I’m all for it.”

“It’ll be awesome [at Intuit Dome],” said Richardson, who lives in Orlando and co-hosts the “Knuckleheads” podcast with Darius Miles. “The young fellas will be put on display for the world to see and that venue is going to be put on display for everyone to see as well. I believe it’s the newest arena we have in the NBA. So much technology went into it, so it’ll be a great stage for everyone to come and witness and enjoy that.”

Richardson, Miles and Keyon Dooling starred in the 2004 documentary “The Youngest Guns” about their first three seasons with the Clippers. Richardson hosts NBA HooperVision in addition to the pregame, halftime and postgame exhibits for the Magic.

“The rules have changed in a way that you’re allowing the fans to watch more scoring,” he said. “The pace has been sped up, the three-point shot is a bigger deal now, they shoot it with a higher volume. From a fan’s standpoint you want to see more scoring and more defense, but the defenders now have that much more skill because they don’t have as many rules in their favor.”

In the Rising Stars mini-tournament, Team A will face Team B in the first semifinal and Team C will play Team D in the second semifinal. The two winners will meet for the championship. For each semifinal, the first workforce to attain or surpass 40 factors is the winner. For the ultimate, the first workforce to attain or surpass 25 factors would be the champion.

“I like how they draft for it,” Richardson said. “It picks from the essence of how we all grew up when you played in the park or rec league, wherever you went, one guy had two dudes to choose and you get to pick your five, so it’s kind of taking you back to the essence of how we grew up playing ball. It’s something we’re all familiar with so that’s a little twist that takes us back to our roots.”

In November, the NBA announced that the All-Star Game will undertake a new USA vs. the World format: a round-robin match that includes two groups of American gamers and another of worldwide gamers, each consisting of at least eight gamers. The top two groups based on document will advance to the finals. All 4 video games can be performed with a 12-minute time restrict.

“Absolutely, it’ll continue to be a global sport,” Richardson said. “Especially with them talking about NBA Europe, that’ll make everything bigger and better. They’ve got the Africa League so from commissioner David Stern to now Adam Silver they’ve done an incredible job of growing the brand. Proof is in the amount of international guys we have in the league now. It’s known far and wide and it’ll continue to get bigger and bigger.”

Richardson thinks the success of the All-Star Game relies on the best gamers collaborating.

“It just takes a couple of guys … one or two of the right guys to come out and participate,” he said. “When a couple guys do it, I think you’ll see the turn. The three-point contest, the dunk contest, it’ll take one big-name guy to go out and do it and everyone else will say, ‘Oh wait, he’s doing it? I need to do it.’ It’ll get back there. It’s a great weekend for the NBA … it’s like a family reunion. I just go out there and enjoy it.”

RISING STARS ROSTERS

Team Melo

Cooper Flagg (Dallas), Reed Sheppard (Houston), Stephon Castle (San Antonio), Dylan Harper (San Antonio), Jeremiah Fears (New Orleans), Donovan Clingan (Portland), Collin Murray-Boyles (Toronto)

Team T-Mac

Kon Knueppel (Charlotte), Kel’el Ware (Miami), Tre Johnson (Washington), Alex Sarr (Washington), Ajay Mitchell (Oklahoma City), Jaylon Tyson (Cleveland), Cam Spencer (Memphis)

Team Vince

VJ Edgecombe (Philadelphia), Derik Queen (New Orleans), Kyshawn George (Washington), Matas Buzelis (Chicago), Egor Dёmin (Brooklyn), Cedric Coward (Memphis), Jaylen Wells (Memphis)

Team Austin

Sean East II (Salt Lake City), Ron Harper Jr. (Maine), David Jones Garcia (Austin), Yanic Konan Niederhäuser (San Diego), Alijah Martin (Raptors 905), Tristen Newton (Rio Grande Valley), Yang Hansen (Rip City)

NBA ALL-STAR WEEKEND SCHEDULE

(at Intuit Dome unless famous)

Friday

4 p.m.: Celebrity Game at Kia Forum (ESPN)

6 p.m.: Rising Stars Challenge (Peacock)

8 p.m.: HBCU Classic, Hampton vs. North Carolina A&T, at Kia Forum (Peacock)

Saturday

10:30 a.m.: NBA All-Star media session (NBA TV)

2 p.m.: All-Star Saturday: abilities problem, three-point contest, slam-dunk contest (NBC and Peacock)

Sunday

11:30 a.m.: NBA G League Next Up Game at Convention Center (NBA TV)

2 p.m.: seventy fifth NBA All-Star Game (NBC and Peacock)