Wembanyama among the selections for NBA Rising Stars games, set for Feb. 14 at All-Star weekend

San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama is officially headed back to All-Star weekend.

Wembanyama — to no surprise — was picked for his second consecutive Rising Stars event, which will be played on Feb. 14 in San Francisco on the first night of the three-night All-Star lineup.

The Rising Stars is a one-night tournament, featuring four rosters of seven players each. Teams will play semifinal games where the first to 40 points wins; those semifinal winners will then play in a championship game, with the winning team being the first one to 25 points.

Wembanyama is one of 11 second-year players picked for the games. He is also expected to be a serious candidate to be picked as a reserve for the Feb. 16 All-Star Game tournament; the list of those 14 players will be released on Thursday. The 10 players designated as starters were announced last week, even though more players will actually be starters in the All-Star Game tournament.

The other second-year players selected: Washington’s Bilal Coulibaly, Toronto’s Gradey Dick, Utah’s Keyonte George, Portland’s Scoot Henderson, Golden State’s Trayce Jackson-Davis, Miami’s Jaime Jaquez Jr., Dallas’ Dereck Lively II, Charlotte’s Brandon Miller, Houston’s Amen Thompson and Oklahoma City’s Cason Wallace.

The rookies picked for Rising Stars were Washington teammates Alex Sarr and Bub Carrington, San Antonio’s Stephon Castle, Orlando’s Tristan da Silva, Memphis teammates Zach Edey and Jaylen Wells, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Dalton Knecht, Philadelphia’s Jared McCain, New Orleans’ Yves Missi and Atlanta’s Zaccharie Risacher — the No. 1 pick in last year’s draft. McCain is injured and will likely be replaced by the NBA.

The fourth team in the Rising Stars will be composed of G League players: two-time defending slam dunk contest champion Mac McClung of the Osceola Magic, JD Davison of the Maine Celtics, Bryce McGowens of the Rip City Remix, Leonard Miller of the Iowa Wolves, Dink Pate of the Mexico City Capitanes, Reed Sheppard of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and Pat Spencer of the Santa Cruz Warriors.

The winning team in the Rising Stars tournament will be the fourth team in the All-Star Game, alongside three teams of NBA players.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press