Rising Stars set to help kick off NBA All-Star Weekend at Intuit Dome
The NBA All-Star Game returns to the Southland in two weeks and part of the annual weekend event that has grown in popularity in recent years is the Rising Stars Challenge, which offers fans the opportunity to watch the league’s top rookies and second-year players compete in a four-team tournament.
The rosters for the mini-tournament taking place Friday, Feb. 13 at the Intuit Dome were drawn up this week by a trio of Hall of Famers consisting of Carmelo Anthony, Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter, who will join former NBA player and current NBC/Peacock analyst Austin Rivers as four honorary coaches (Rivers will coach the G League team).
Anthony had the No. 1 pick and drafted Dallas rookie forward Cooper Flagg. McGrady went next and chose Charlotte rookie guard/forward Kon Knueppel while Carter opted for Philadelphia rookie guard VJ Edgecombe at No. 3. (Lists attached at bottom of story.)
Quentin Richardson, drafted by the Clippers with the 18th pick in the 2000 NBA draft, knows the three Hall of Famers well. He was Anthony’s teammate on the New York Knicks in 2012-13 and faced his cousins McGrady and Carter several times during their respective careers. Richardson, now 45, is enjoying All-Star Weekend and is excited to see the festivities back in the city where his NBA journey began. One of the highlights of his 13-year career was hitting his final nine shots to win the three-point contest in 2005.
“I attended the Saturday night rookie-sophomore game my first few years in the league and I love that event,” said Richardson, who played for the Clippers from 2000 to 2004 when they were co-tenants with the Lakers in what was then called Staples Center, now Crypto.com Arena. “It’s a platform for fans to watch the real future stars of the league, the rising stars, and with the international boom there are so many different young internationals that they might not know well in the different teams that are there this weekend.
Lakers guard Dalton Knecht of Team C, center, goes up for a dunk during the 2025 Rising Stars Challenge at Chase Center in San Francisco.
(Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
“It’s one of those weekends that you always want to go to, that you always want to be a part of.”
The Rookie Challenge was established in 1994 and featured two randomly selected teams of first-year players. The name was changed to Rising Stars Challenge in 2012 and the current tournament-style format was adopted four years ago. As of 2023, the format consists of 28 players – 21 rookies and sophomores and seven G League players.
“I’m intrigued by the format,” Richardson said. “When I was playing, it was just the rookies and the sophomores, two teams, but the kids have rallied around that, so the NBA has been very successful in pivoting to different things to try to create more excitement around the games this weekend. I’m all for it.”
“It will be great [at Intuit Dome]” said Richardson, who lives in Orlando and co-hosts the “Knuckleheads” podcast with Darius Miles. “The young guys will be on display for the whole world to see and this venue will be on display for everyone to see as well. I believe it’s the newest arena we have in the NBA. There is so much technology that has been used, so it will be a great scene for everyone to come and witness and enjoy.
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 pregame, halftime and postgame shows for the Magic.
“The rules have changed in a way that allows fans to watch the scores more,” he said. “The pace has picked up, the three-point shot is now more important, they’re shooting with higher volume. From a fan’s perspective, you want to see more scoring and more defense, but the defenders now have a lot 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 semi-final and Team C will face Team D in the second semi-final. The two winners will meet for the championship. For each semi-final, the first team to reach or exceed 40 points is the winner. For the final, the first team to reach or exceed 25 points will be champion.
“I like the way they draft,” Richardson said. “It draws on the essence of how we all grew up when you played in a park league or rec league, wherever you went, a guy had two guys to pick and you could pick five, so it kind of takes you back to the essence of how we grew up playing ball. It’s something we all know, so it’s a little twist that takes us back to our roots.”
In November, the NBA announced that the All-Star Game would adopt a new USA vs. World format: a round-robin tournament featuring two teams of American players and another of international players, each consisting of at least eight players. The two best teams according to their record will advance to the final. All four matches will be played within 12 minutes.
“Absolutely, it will continue to be a global sport,” Richardson said. “Especially if they talk about NBA Europe, it will make everything bigger and better. They have the African League, so from commissioner David Stern to now Adam Silver, they have done an incredible job growing the brand. The proof is in the number of international players we have in the league now. It’s known everywhere and it’s going to continue to grow.”
Richardson believes the success of the All-Star Game depends on the participation of the best players.
“It just takes a few guys…one or two of the right guys to come and participate,” he said. “When a few guys do it, I think you’ll see the turning point. The three-point contest, the dunk contest, it’s going to take a big-name guy to come out and do it and everyone will be like, ‘Oh, wait, he’s doing it? I have to do it.’ He will come back there. It’s a great weekend for the NBA…it’s like a family reunion. I just go out there and enjoy it.
LIST OF RISING STARS
The Mélo team
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)
The Vince team
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 otherwise noted)
Friday
4:00 p.m.: Celebrity Game at Kia Forum (ESPN)
6:00 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)
2:00 p.m.: All-Star Saturday: skills challenge, three-point contest, slam-dunk contest (NBC and Peacock)
Sunday
11:30 a.m.: Next NBA G League game at the Convention Center (NBA TV)
2:00 p.m.: 75th NBA All-Star Game (NBC and Peacock)
