Over the last decade, as the number of foreign players in NBA began to increase, the idea of a USA vs. The World format for the All-Star Game has been floated about — similar to the NHL’s brief North America vs. The World All-Star experiment. Clamor for such a spectacle seems to have died down lately, but the NBA is following through on the idea by switching up another All-Star Weekend showcase: the Rising Stars Challenge.
Since it began in 1994, the game has gone through a few iterations. First it was rookies only, then West rookies versus East rookies, then Rookies and Sophomores. In 2012, the league began mixing rookies and sophomores via a draft system conducted by TNT. Rising Stars Challenge 5.0 may be the most intriguing version yet. As always, the game will involve first and second-year players, but with national pride on the line, the game has potential to be an engaging spectacle.
Rising Stars Challenge (Rookies & Sophs) will be USA vs. Internationals this year (10 on each team).
— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) January 21, 2015
I don’t know about you, but a potential International starting lineup of Dennis Schroder, Andrew Wiggins, Nikola Mirotic, The Greek Freak and Rudy Gobert sounds like a lot of fun to me.
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