Top NBA Draft pick Victor Wembanyama and 2023 NBA Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero are among the players named Tuesday to compete in next month's NBA Rising Stars tournament.
The event, featuring four seven-player teams, will be staged on Feb. 16, two days before the NBA All-Star Game at Indianapolis.
French 2.24-meter center Wembanyama, averaging 20.6 points and 10.1 rebounds a game this season for the San Antonio Spurs, is among 11 rookies who were selected by NBA assistant coaches.
They will join 10 second-year NBA players, Orlando star Banchero among them, in a talent pool from which three teams will be picked in a draft next Tuesday.
Those lineups and a seven-player squad from the developmental G-League picked by NBA officials will compete in a four-team event
Honorary head coaches for the Rising Stars NBA squads will include former NBA players Pau Gasol, the Spaniard whose team who last year, and former Indiana Pacers standout Jalen Rose plus Women's NBA Indiana Fever star Tamika Catchings.
Former Pacers standout Detlef Schrempf of Germany will guide the G-League lineup.
Semi-final contests in the Rising Stars event will be played to a target score of 40 with the final played to a target score of 25.