It is the annual meeting which rewards the best young NBA players. The Rising Stars Challenge takes place each year on the first day of All-Star Weekend, which is Friday, February 13 this year. In summary, it’s a kind of All-Star Game for young people. The 21 best rookies and sophomores in the American League, along with the 7 best G-League players, are selected to play a mini-tournament of 4 teams of 7 players. It was the NBA assistant coaches who elected these players.
Short matches, supposed to be dynamic and spectacular, to prepare the ground for the big all-star game on Sunday. Three weeks before the event, the selections were announced by the NBA. The 28 players will then be divided into the 4 teams by their future coaches: the Hall-of-Famers Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter et Tracy McGradyas well as Austin Rivers.
The 2026 Castrol Rising Stars ⬇️
Tune in to @peacock tomorrow at 7 PM ET to watch honorary coaches Carmelo Anthony, Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter draft their teams from the pool of 21 NBA sophomores and rookies.
Austin Rivers will serve as the honorary coach of the @nbagleague… pic.twitter.com/WW4quEKMLX
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) January 26, 2026
Sarr alone French representative, Risacher will not be there
Among this pool of 28 young stars, only one Frenchman: Alexandre Sarr (2.16 m, 20 years old). While waiting for a possible selection for the All-Star Game… next year (?), the Washington pivot was chosen with two other young people from his team: the Swiss-Canadian and former Espoir de l’Élan Chalon Kyshawn Georgeas well as the American rookie Tre Johnson. The Wizards are one of three teams along with the Rockets and Grizzlies to send three players this year.
On the other hand, Sarr will be the only tricolor represented this year, compared to three last year (with Risacher and Coulibaly). Exit then Zaccharie Risacher (2.05 m, 20 years old), which is due to his declining statistics compared to last season, as well as his knee injury which has kept him away from the courts since January 7. It’s rare that a Draft No. 1 doesn’t even make the Rising Stars cut. In previous years, Paolo Banchero et Victor Wembanyama (2.24 m, 22 years old) had been elected All-Stars as sophomores.
Raynaud and Hayes also left out
Two other tricolors were also outsiders to a selection: Maxime Raynaud (2.16 m, 22 years old) and Killian Hayes (1.96 m, 24 years old). The first in the rookie pool, and the second in that of the G-League. Raynaud is in fact ranked 6th in the official NBA Rookie Ladder, but was not even taken in this selection of the 10 best. He too has seen his performances drop recently, due to his return from injury. Domantas Sabonis et Zach LaVine to the Kings, and maybe the rookie wall. The Kings pivot averages less than 5 points over his last 6 games.
As for Hayes, as a Top 10 player for the best scorers (24.2 points) and best assists (8.1 assists) in the G-League, he could also have claimed a place. This must have come down to a few things. Swiss and French speaking Yanic Niederhäuser was on the other hand taken in this G-League team, just like the Chinese media phenomenon Yang Hansen.
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