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For yet another year, the Los Angeles Lakers will be well-represented at the Rising Stars game over All-Star Weekend. Wednesday afternoon, the NBA announced the official rosters for the game, and holy cow those teams are loaded.
The teams are again broken up into the U.S. and World sides, and Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck broke the news.
NBA announces rosters for rookie-soph game (aka "rising stars challenge"). pic.twitter.com/ovx4uxIfQD
— Howard Beck (@HowardBeck) January 25, 2017
While Julius Randle is considered by many to be in his second year, because he played 14 minutes before breaking his leg in his rookie season, he is in his third year and therefore will not be participating.
It’s hard not to feel like the World side has a pretty stated advantage over the U.S. team, with guys like Joel Embiid (who will probably win the Rookie of the Year award) and Nikola Jokic up front, with that Kristaps Porzingis guy also available. That’s about as loaded a front court as has been seen in this game for quite some time.
Still, with Karl-Anthony Towns and Myles Turner up front with Russell being probably the most talented guard in the game, the competition should be incredibly entertaining.