The NBA announced the 28 players who have earned spots to compete in the 2024 Panini Rising Stars, which will take place on Saturday, February 17, Philippine time in Indianapolis as part of NBA All-Star 2024.
The annual showcase of premier young talent, featuring a mini-tournament with four teams and three games, will air live at 10 a.m. PHT.
The player pool consists of 11 NBA rookies, 10 second-year NBA players and seven NBA G League players.
2024 Panini Rising Stars player pool
NBA Rookies
- Bilal Coulibaly (Guard | Washington Wizards)
- Keyonte George (Guard | Utah Jazz)
- Jordan Hawkins (Guard | New Orleans Pelicans)
- Scoot Henderson (Guard | Portland Trail Blazers)
- Chet Holmgren (Frontcourt | Oklahoma City Thunder)
- Jaime Jaquez. Jr. (Frontcourt | Miami Heat)
- Dereck Lively II (Frontcourt | Dallas Mavericks)
- Brandon Miller (Frontcourt | Charlotte Hornets)
- Brandin Podziemski (Guard | Golden State Warriors)
- Cason Wallace (Guard | Oklahoma City Thunder)
- Victor Wembanyama (Frontcourt | San Antonio Spurs)
NBA Sophomores
- Paolo Banchero (Frontcourt | Orlando Magic)
- Dyson Daniels (Guard | New Orleans Pelicans)
- Jalen Duren (Frontcourt | Detroit Pistons)
- Jaden Ivey (Guard | Detroit Pistons)
- Walker Kessler (Frontcourt | Utah Jazz)
- Bennedict Mathurin (Guard | Indiana Pacers)
- Keegan Murray (Frontcourt | Sacramento Kings)
- Shaedon Sharpe (Guard | Portland Trail Blazers)
- Jabari Smith Jr. (Frontcourt | Houston Rockets)
- Jalen Williams (Frontcourt | Oklahoma City Thunder)
NBA G League Players
- Izan Almansa (Frontcourt | G League Ignite)
- Matas Buzelis (Frontcourt | G League Ignite)
- Ron Holland (Frontcourt | G League Ignite)
- Mac McClung (Guard | Osceola Magic)
- Tyler Smith (Frontcourt | G League Ignite)
- Oscar Tshiebwe (Frontcourt | Indiana Mad Ants)*
- Alondes Williams (Guard | Sioux Falls Skyforce)
*Two-Way Player
How it works
The 21 NBA players, selected by NBA assistant coaches, will be drafted onto three seven-player teams. The seven NBA G League players, selected by the league office, will comprise the fourth team.
Six-time NBA All-Star and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Pau Gasol will return as one of the four honorary head coaches after leading his team to the Rising Stars championship last year. Joining Gasol as honorary head coaches are Indiana Fever legend and 10-time WNBA All-Star Tamika Catchings and former Indiana Pacers standouts Jalen Rose and Detlef Schrempf.
Catchings, a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer, led the Fever to the 2012 WNBA championship. Rose helped the Pacers reach the 2000 NBA Finals and was the Kia NBA Most Improved Player that season. Schrempf, a three-time NBA All-Star, won back-to-back Kia NBA Sixth Man Awards with the Pacers in the 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons.
Gasol (Team Pau), Catchings (Team Tamika) and Rose (Team Jalen) will select their teams through the Rising Stars Draft, which will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 7 and stream live on the NBA App. Schrempf (Team Detlef) will coach the team of NBA G League players.
All three games in Panini Rising Stars will be played to a Final Target Score, meaning each game will end with a made basket or a made free throw instead of with the clock running out. The semifinal games will be played to a Final Target Score of 40. The championship game will be played to a Final Target Score of 25.
Team A will face Team B in the first semifinal (Game 1), and Team C will play Team D in the second semifinal (Game 2). The winner of Game 1 will meet the winner of Game 2 in the championship (Game 3). The semifinal matchups will be announced at a later date.
How players were selected
In selecting the NBA players for Panini Rising Stars, each NBA team submitted one ballot per coaching staff. Each coaching staff selected four frontcourt players, four guards and two additional players at either position, in order of preference, for the rookie ballot and the sophomore ballot.
Coaches were not permitted to vote for any player on their team.
The NBA participants for Panini Rising Stars were determined by the total points each player received from the ballots. Points were awarded based on where a player was ranked on each ballot. The player pool includes one more rookie than sophomore based on total points received.
The 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend in Indiana will air from February 17-19 on NBA TV Philippines, One Sports, and the Pilipinas Live app.
