NBA Announces Players For 2025 Castrol Rising Stars

NEW YORK, Jan. 28, 2025 – The NBA announced today the 28 players who have been selected to compete in the 2025 Castrol Rising Stars, which will take place on Friday, Feb. 14 at Chase Center in San Francisco as part of NBA All-Star 2025.  The player pool is attached and below. 

The annual showcase of premier young talent, featuring a mini-tournament with four teams and three games, will air at 9 p.m. ET on TNT.  The Castrol Rising Stars champion will earn a spot to play in the 2025 NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. ET on TNT.

The Castrol Rising Stars player pool consists of 10 NBA rookies, 11 NBA sophomores and seven NBA G League players.  The 21 NBA players, selected by NBA assistant coaches, will be drafted onto three seven-player teams.  The seven NBA G League players, selected by the league office, will comprise the fourth team.

The Rising Stars Draft will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 4 at 4 p.m. ET on the NBA App and on social platforms @NBA.  The three teams of NBA players will be drafted by honorary head coaches, who will be announced at a later date.

In the Castrol Rising Stars mini-tournament, Team A will face Team B in the first semifinal (Game 1), and Team C will play Team D in the second semifinal (Game 2).  The winner of Game 1 will meet the winner of Game 2 in the championship (Game 3).

For each semifinal game, the winner will be the first team to reach or surpass 40 points.  For the championship game, the winner will be the first team to reach or surpass 25 points.

In selecting the NBA players for Castrol Rising Stars, each NBA team submitted one ballot per coaching staff.  Each coaching staff selected four frontcourt players, four guards and two additional players at either position, in order of preference, for the rookie ballot and the sophomore ballot.  Coaches were not permitted to vote for any player on their team.

The NBA participants for Castrol Rising Stars were determined by the total points each player received from the ballots.  Points were awarded based on where a player was ranked on each ballot.  The player pool includes one more sophomore than rookie based on total points received.

If a player is selected to play in the NBA All-Star Game and Castrol Rising Stars, he will only compete for one of the three teams of NBA All-Stars on Sunday, Feb. 16.

Assistant coaches from the NBA All-Star Game coaching staffs – the Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder – will join the honorary head coaches in coaching the Castrol Rising Stars teams. 

Tickets for Castrol Rising Stars are available at NBAEvents.com/All-Star and through the NBA Events App, which can be downloaded in the Apple Store or Google Play Store.

Below is the player pool for the 2025 Castrol Rising Stars.