Rising Stars Challenge

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  The Rising Stars Challenge is a basketball exhibition staged by the NBA on the Friday before the All-Star Game, and it has been filling that slot every year since 1994. It starts All-Star Weekend with a promise: here are the players you will be talking about for the next decade. Some of those promises have paid off spectacularly. A young Kevin Durant once put up 46 points in a single game here, a record that still stands. A teenage Kobe Bryant suited up for the West in 1997. Penny Hardaway was the very first MVP, and he won it on the losing team. What makes this event so durable across more than three decades? And why has its format been reinvented so many times, from random squads to conference rivalries to celebrity-drafted teams to a full four-team tournament? The answers run through the NBA's evolving ideas about what "new talent" actually means, and what it deserves.

• 2. Origins and Early Years

  ›

  On the 12th of February 1994, at the Target Center in Minneapolis, the first Rookie Challenge tipped off with two randomly assembled squads of first-year players. Penny Hardaway of the Orlando Magic was named MVP, though his team lost. The game was pure showcase: no conference loyalties, no grudge matches, just the freshest faces in professional basketball on the same floor. That random-draw format lasted two seasons before the league shifted gears in 1996, recasting the game as East versus West to give it stakes that casual fans could follow. Then came 1999, and the NBA lockout erased the game entirely. The league used the forced pause productively. Because the 1998 rookie class had never played in a Challenge, designers came up with a new concept for the 2000 game: Rookies versus Sophomores. That format proved so popular it ran for the next twelve years.

• 3. Celebrity Coaches and Format Shifts

  ›

  In 2012, the game acquired a new name, Rising Stars Challenge, and a new hook. Basketball Hall of Famers Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal became general managers, each drafting their own squad. The concept gave the event a personality it had lacked. Team Chuck faced Team Shaq, and the draft itself became a spectacle alongside the game. The following year the same two legends returned, then in 2014 Chris Webber and Grant Hill took over as the franchise minds behind their respective rosters. The game format shifted again in 2015 to Team USA versus Team World, which added a layer of national pride to the proceedings. That year the World team won 121-112, with Canada's Andrew Wiggins, the first overall pick in the 2014 draft, taking home MVP honors after scoring 22 points. Rudy Gobert added 18 points, 12 rebounds, and three blocks for the World side. One game in 2016 became the highest-scoring match in Rising Stars history, Team USA defeating Team World 157-154, with Zach LaVine pouring in 30 points and Kristaps Porzingis matching him point for point from the other side.

• 4. The Tournament Era

  ›

  The most ambitious overhaul arrived in 2022, when the NBA converted the game into a four-team single-elimination tournament. Coaches were drawn from the NBA 75th Anniversary Team, specifically Rick Barry, Gary Payton, Isiah Thomas, and James Worthy, honoring the league's 75th season. The scoring system was itself a tribute: teams played toward a Final Target Score of 50 points in the semifinals and 25 in the finals, totaling exactly 75 for the tournament winner. The player pool expanded to 28 athletes split among 12 rookies, 12 sophomores, and four spots reserved for NBA G League Ignite prospects, marking the first time developmental-league players officially joined the game. The 2023 edition adjusted the semifinal target downward from 50 to 40, and widened the G League pool beyond just Ignite players to include players from any G League affiliate. By 2024, the honorary coaches included Tamika Catchings, one of the few coaches in the event's history from the women's game. The four-team tournament format proved influential enough that the NBA adopted it for the main All-Star Game itself beginning in 2025. Winners of the Rising Stars Challenge that year also qualified directly for the All-Star Game.

• 5. Legends, Records, and MVPs

  ›

  Kevin Durant's 46 points in 2009 is the all-time single-game scoring record. Andre Drummond holds the rebounds record at 25, set in 2014. John Wall distributed 22 assists in 2011, a mark no one has come close to matching. Daniel Gibson made 11 three-pointers in 2008, with Frank Kaminsky and Jamal Murray each reaching nine in 2017. Chris Paul recorded nine steals in a single 2007 game. Penny Hardaway, Allen Iverson, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Andrew Wiggins, and Zach LaVine are among the MVPs who went on to long, prominent NBA careers. A handful of MVPs won the award while playing for the losing team: Penny Hardaway in 1994 and Eddie Jones in 1995 both earned the honor despite their squad falling short. The Golden State Warriors have sent 18 participants to the game over the years, a figure matched by the Memphis Grizzlies franchise. The Cleveland Cavaliers lead all franchises with 23 participants. Jeremy Lin, who played nine minutes in the 2012 game at his own request because of exhaustion from his sudden rise to fame that month, returned to the event in 2025 as honorary coach of the G League team, having begun his NBA career with the Golden State Warriors.

• 6. Sponsorship and the Future

  ›

  Since 2025, Castrol has sponsored the event, and the game now carries the official name Castrol Rising Stars. The 2026 edition is scheduled for the 13th of February at Intuit Dome. The roster selection process, handled by the NBA's assistant coaches and league office, has always operated as a form of early official recognition, a signal from the league itself about which young players are worth watching. Cooper Flagg of the Dallas Mavericks was listed for the 2026 game before withdrawing with a left midfoot sprain, a reminder that even the youngest stars arrive at All-Star Weekend carrying the physical toll of a full professional season. V. J. Edgecombe of the Philadelphia 76ers was named the 2026 MVP, the third time in the event's history a player from the 76ers franchise took home the award.