As the NBA prepares for the 2022 All-Star Weekend in Cleveland, the league announced some changes to the Rising Stars Challenge on Tuesday. It’s the latest overhaul of the event, which was recently modeled as a Team USA vs. Team World game to showcase the increasing talent in the NBA from around the globe.
Here are some of the major changes to the event:
- Rising Stars will feature four teams with seven players each, in a three-game mini-tournament
- A total of 24 first and second-year players will be selected by NBA assistant coaches
- Four players from the G League Ignite team will also be selected by G League head coaches
- The coaching staff will be made up of members from the 75th Anniversary Team announced earlier this season
- Head coaches of each team will select their own players in the Rising Stars Draft
- Each coach will draft seven players, including one G League Ignite player
- Each semifinal game will be played to a target score of 50, while the championship game will be played to 25.
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In addition to this new format, a shooting competition will happen before the championship game, dubbed the Clorox Clutch Challenge. Eight players on the Rising Stars squads will be divided into teams of two, and compete to knock down five historic shots that were made during the NBA playoffs. The team that knocks down all five shots the quickest wins the shooting competition.
This new format offers a potentially more exciting configuration for the Rising Stars Challenge. As the opening event that kicks off All-Star Weekend, it often gets forgotten about. But it sounds as though the league is trying to increase interest, and this will certainly be something to tune it to just to see how it plays out. The Rising Stars Challenge will take place on Friday, Feb. 18 in Cleveland.
