Last season Jusuf Nurkic opted out of the NBA’s Rising Stars Challenge to return home to Bosnia over All-Star weekend in New York. This season Emmanuel Mudiay (Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Nikola Jokić (Serbia) will represent the Denver Nuggets in Toronto for the Rising Stars Challenge, as members of the World team.
Mudiay is averaging 11.0 points, 5.7 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.0 steals in just under 30 minutes per game. Among rookie he currently ranks first in assists, fourth in steals and fifth in scoring. The 19 year-old point guard has appeared in 31 games for the Nuggets with 29 starts.
Jokić is averaging 9.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 19 minutes per game. Among rookies he currently ranks first in field goal percentage at 55.2 percent, sixth in rebounds, seventh in scoring and eighth in assists. Jokic has appeared in 43 games this season and has worked his way into the starting lineup with 18 starts. Among big men rookies, Jokic plays the fewest minutes of the high-profile players; consider that Jahlil Okafor (30.8), Karl-Anthony Towns (29.3) and Kristaps Porzingis all average over 28.3 minutes per game.
The BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge takes place on Friday, Feb. 12th at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto during NBA All-Star 2016 weekend.
Here’s a look at some additional details from the Nuggets press release on the event:
For the second consecutive year, the league’s annual showcase of premier young talent will pit 10 first- and second-year NBA players from the United States against 10 first- and second-year NBA players from around the world. TNT will televise the game live at 7:00 p.m. MT.
Mudiay and Jokic are joined on the World Team by Andrew Wiggins of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Dwight Powell of the Dallas Mavericks, Bojan Bogdanovic of the Brooklyn Nets, Clint Capela of the Houston Rockets, Mario Hezonja of the Orlando Magic, Nikola Mirotic of the Chicago Bulls and Raul Neto of the Utah Jazz.
The U.S. Team consists of Karl-Anthony Towns and Zach LaVine of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel of the Philadelphia 76ers, Jordan Clarkson and D’Angelo Russell of the Los Angeles Lakers, Rodney Hood of the Jazz, Jabari Parker of the Milwaukee Bucks, Elfrid Payton of the Magic and Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics.
The NBA’s assistant coaches chose the rosters for the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge, selecting four guards, four frontcourt players and two players at either position for each team. The coaches also picked a minimum of three first-year players and three second-year players for each team.
Along with the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge, Air Canada Centre will also host State Farm All-Star Saturday Night on Saturday, Feb. 13th and the 65th NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 14th. Other events at NBA All-Star 2016 include the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game and the NBA Development League All-Star Game. This will be the first NBA All-Star held outside the U.S.
