Warriors shut out of Rising Stars Challenge

Feb 1, 2023 - 1:36 AM

The 2023 NBA All-Star weekend is less than three weeks away, and right now the only member of the Golden State Warriors scheduled to show up is Steph Curry, who was voted as an All-Star starter for the ninth time in his career.

There’s still a very outside chance that Curry is joined by a teammate on the roster, though I would very much doubt it. And perhaps we see Klay Thompson head to Utah to compete in the three-point competition.

But if not, then Curry is likely to be the only member of the Warriors in Salt Lake City for the long weekend, as the NBA announced the players selected for the Rising Stars Challenge, and no Golden State players were selected.

It’s not even remotely surprising that Patrick Baldwin Jr. and Ryan Rollins were omitted from the 11 rookies chosen, nor is it in any way a shock that Moses Moody isn’t one of the 10 second-year players on the list. But Jonathan Kuminga’s exclusion, while not shocking, is at least notable.

Here are the 10 players who made it over Kuminga: Jose Alvarado, Scottie Barnes, Josh Giddey, Jalen Green, Quentin Grimes, Bones Hyland, Evan Mobley, Trey Murphy III, Alperen Şengün, and Franz Wagner. Many of those players are pretty obvious picks, but a few of them Kuminga has a pretty strong case over.

He could, of course, make the roster the same way he did last year, when he was an injury replacement. We’ll have to wait and see.

In addition to the 10 sophomores and 11 rookies, the league is including seven players from the G League, highlighted by the presumed No. 2 overall pick in June, Scoot Henderson. And among those seven? Warriors camp contract Mac McClung, who will also be competing in the Slam Dunk Contest!