The NBA announced the player pool Tuesday for the 2025 Rising Stars at NBA All-Star Weekend in San Francisco, and the group features four Frenchmen, including the top picks of the past two drafts in Victor Wembanyama (2023) and Zaccharie Risacher (2024) along with Alex Sarr and Bilal Coulibaly.
The league's annual showcase features the top first- and second-year NBA players as well as NBA G League standouts broken into four teams for a Feb. 14 tournament that consists of three games total.
The player pool is made up of 10 NBA rookies, 11 NBA sophomores and seven G League players. Submitting one ballot per coaching staff that consisted of four frontcourt players, four guards and two additional players at either spot, NBA assistants selected the 21 NBA players in the pool who will be drafted onto three seven-player teams, while the league office picked the seven NBA G-League players that will make up the fourth squad.
2025 NBA Rising Stars rosters released: pic.twitter.com/0e7Bb7CbW4
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 28, 2025
One of the new wrinkles for Rising Stars in 2025 involves the winning Rising Stars team playing in the All-Star Game mini-tournament on Feb. 16 against the NBA All-Stars. TNT analyst and three-time WNBA champion Candace Parker will serve as honorary GM of the Rising Stars champion, which will be called Team Candace.
The league will conduct the Rising Stars draft on Feb. 4 ahead of the game while the three teams of NBA All-Stars will be drafted by honorary head coaches, who will be announced later.
Once the tournament commences, Team A takes on Team B in the first semifinal matchup, while Team C and Team D meet in the second semifinal contest. The semifinal winners would then face off in a championship game. In the semifinal clashes, the winner will be the first team to reach or surpass 40 points. In the championship, the winner will be the first team to reach or surpass 25 points.
If a player is selected to play in both the NBA All-Star Game and Rising Stars, he will only compete on Feb. 16 for one of the three teams of NBA All-Stars.