One of the best parts of NBA All-Star Weekend is the Rising Stars competition. The league thrives best when young players have a chance to showcase why they’ll be the future of the sport.
While the competition itself is never super competitive, it’s a fun opportunity to take stock of who the best young players in the NBA are. For some, it’s less about the game and more about familiarizing oneself with the names of the next era.
This year’s competition will be different from the ones of the past. Instead of having two teams compete in a standard game, four teams of seven are competing in a mini-tournament, where teams will have to hit a target score of 50 points in the semifinals and 25 points in the championship.
The competition will include 28 players, including 12 rookies and 12 sophomores. In a fun twist, four players from the developmental G-League Ignite team are also playing in the competition, which starts on Feb. 18 at 9:00 PM ET on TNT.
The rosters for the games were revealed on Thursday night. Players competing include Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley, Anthony Edwards, and LaMelo Ball.
While it’s an honor for every player selected to compete, not all of the players will pan out into stars down the road. For some, being selected may prove to be the height of their career, although none would be able to see it at this point.
But which of these players have All-Star Sundays in their future? Here are three Rising Stars destined to be future NBA All-Stars.