The NBA announced the player pool for the 2025 Rising Stars Challenge during All-Star Weekend in San Francisco and Los Angeles Lakers rookie Dalton Knecht made the cut.
In addition to Knecht, the other rookies that were chosen include Bub Carrington (Washington Wizards), Stephon Castle (San Antonio Spurs), Tristan Da Silva (Orlando Magic), Zach Edey (Memphis Grizzlies), Jared McCain (Philadelphia 76ers), Yves Missi (New Orleans Pelicans), Zaccharie Risacher (Atlanta Hawks), Alex Sarr (Washington Wizards) and Jaylen Wells (Memphis Grizzlies).
The sophomore players that were selected include Bilal Coulibaly (Washington Wizards), Gradey Dick (Toronto Raptors), Keyonte George (Utah Jazz), Scoot Henderson (Portland Trail Blazers), Trayce Jackson-Davis (Golden State Warriors), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (Miami Heat), Dereck Lively II (Dallas Mavericks), Brandon Miller (Charlotte Hornets), Amen Thompson (Houston Rockets), Cason Wallace (Oklahoma City Thunder) and Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs).
Finally, seven G League players were invited to form their own team and that includes JD Davison (Maine Celtics), Mac McClung (Osceola Magic), Bryce McGowens (Rip City Remix), Leonard Miller (Iowa Wolves), Dink Pate (Mexico City Capitanes), Reed Sheppard (Rio Grande Valley Vipers) and Pat Spencer (Santa Cruz Warriors).
As usual, the annual showcase of premier young talent will feature a mini-tournament with four teams and three games. One team will be the G Leaguers while the other three will be drafted.
They will air live at 9 p.m. ET on TNT on Friday, FEb. 14 at Chase Center in San Francisco. A new wrinkle this year is that the winning Rising Stars team will feature in the All-Star Game mini-tournament on Sunday, Feb. 16, competing against the NBA All-Stars. TNT analyst and WNBA legend Candace Parker will serve as honorary general manager of the Rising Stars champion, known as Team Candace.
Another Lakers player in Bronny James would have made the cut on the G League team but recent reports indicated that he declined the invitation.
Lakers rookie Dalton Knecht discussed possibility of making Rising Stars Challenge
The one Lakers player who will be involved in the Rising Stars Challenge is Dalton Knecht, who is averaging 9.1 points and 3.1 rebounds while shooting 35.1% from 3-point range in his rookie season. He is the 13th Lakers rookie to be chosen for the game.
Making the cut has been a possibility for a while now for Knecht, but he previously said he wasn’t thinking about it until it was brought up to him.
“Nah, I haven’t really though about it. I’m pretty sure now I will think about it now. I’m not sure, I’ll think about it next time,” Knecht said with a smile.
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