the dominican Chris Duarteof the Indiana Pacers, will play the All-Star rookies vs. sophomores matchup of the NBA, which will be played in Cleveland (USA) from February 18 to 20.
Duarte appears among the rookies chosen along with Scottie Barnes (Toronto Raptors), Cade Cunningham (Detroit Pistons), Ayo Dosunmu (Chicago Bulls), Josh Giddey (Oklahoma City Thunder), Jalen Green (Houston Rockets), Herbert Jones (New Orleans Pelicans). ), Davion Mitchell (Sacramento Kings), Evan Mobley (Cleveland Cavaliers), Alperen Sengun (Houston Rockets), Jalen Suggs (Houston Rockets) and Franz Wagner (Orlando Magic). Sophomores include Precious Achiuwa (Miami Heat), Cole Anthony (Orlando Magic), LaMelo Ball (Charlotte Hornets), Desmond Bane (Memphis Grizzlies), Saddiq Bay (Detroit Pistons), Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves), Tyrese Haliburton (Sacramento Kings), Tyrese Maxey (Philadelphia 76ers), Jaden McDaniels (Minnesota Timberwolves), Isaac Okoro (Cleveland Cavaliers), Isaiah Stewart (Detroit Pistons) and Jae’Sean Tate (Houston Rockets). The Argentinian Facundo Campazzo, who was among the rookies chosen in 2021, does not appear this year among the ‘sophomores’. That All-Star game last year was ultimately not played because of the pandemic.
Chris Duarte has been one of the few pieces of good news for the Indiana Pacers in a very disappointing season for the Rick Carlisle-led team. The Dominican is averaging 13.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 28.8 minutes per game. On January 21, Duarte played his best game so far in the NBA with 27 points (10 of 16 shots, 2 of 3 on 3-pointers), 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals in the surprising away victory of the Pacers against the Golden State Warriors of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
Format changes
On the other hand, the NBA announced last week some changes in the game between rookies and second-year players. Known as the All-Star Rising Stars, this matchup previously pitted rookies and sophomores and then players from the United States against those from the rest of the world chosen from both rookies and sophomores. However, this year the changes have started with the selection of 12 rookies, 12 sophomores and 4 more from the G League developmental league (MarJon Beauchamp, Dyson Daniels Jaden Hardy, Scoot Henderson). With that total of 28 names, four teams will be formed, which will be led by four members of the list of the 75 best players in NBA history that the league has unveiled this year to celebrate its 75 years of competition. The teams will meet in a Final Four format (two semifinals and one final with the winners of both crosses). Instead of being played on time, these matches will be won by whoever reaches a score first, a format that has been used previously in the All-Star center match. As a tribute to the 75th anniversary of the NBA, the semifinals will be played until one of the teams reaches 50 points, while in the final the objective will be to reach 25 points.