Banchero leads roster for Rising Stars Game

Paolo Banchero’s rookie season will include a trip to NBA All-Star weekend.

The Orlando Magic forward and No. 1 pick in last year’s draft was announced Tuesday as a participant in this year’s Rising Stars Game, to be held in Salt Lake City on Feb. 17, two nights before the All-Star Game.

Banchero — who leads all rookies with a 20.7-point scoring average — still may be selected as an All-Star reserve. Those players will be revealed Thursday.

“Anytime you can get a chance to be a part of AllStar weekend, you can’t say no,” Banchero said. “Especially me, being a rookie, first year, never experienced it before, it’s always been the dream to just be a part of that whether it was Rising Stars or as a reserve.”

Banchero is on pace to be the first rookie to average 20 points since Luka Doncic in 2018-19. He also was fourth among rookies in rebounds per game entering Tuesday and third among them in steals per game.

Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said the All-Star experience will have an impact on Banchero.

“Just being around other young players that have found themselves in that position, it does so much because it’s your peers,” Mosley said. “You’re around a group of young men who are the elite of the league in that class. I think it says something to the work that you’ve put in, the work that he’s put in.”

Also picked for the game from this season’s rookie class: Detroit’s Jalen Duren and Jaden Ivey, Atlanta’s A.J. Griffin, Utah’s Walker Kessler, Indiana’s Bennedict Mathurin and Andrew Nembhard, Sacramento’s Keegan Murray, Houston’s Jabari Smith Jr., San Antonio’s Jeremy Sochan and Oklahoma City’s Jalen Williams.

The second-year players selected were New Orleans’ Jose Alvarado and Trey Murphy III, Toronto’s Scottie Barnes, Oklahoma City’s

Josh Giddey, Houston’s Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun, New York’s Quentin Grimes, Denver’s Bones Hyland, Cleveland’s Evan Mobley and Orlando’s Franz Wagner.

There also will be a team of G League players in the Rising Stars event, made up of Scotty Pippen Jr. of the South Bay Lakers, Sidy Cissoko, Mojave King, Scoot Henderson, Kenneth Lofton Jr., Mac McClung and Leonard Miller.

The 21 NBA players will be drafted into three sevenplayer teams. Former Laker Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah and Deron Williams will serve as coaches for those teams, while Jason Terry

will coach the G League team. All four teams will play a semifinal game with a target score of 40, and the winners will play the title game with a target score of 25.

Etc.

Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball had the eighth triple-double of his career with 27 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds in a 124-115 loss at Milwaukee.