Team Carmelo's stacked roster, featuring Spurs sophomores and top draft picks, could be poised for Rising Stars Challenge victory.
NBA All-Star Weekend is coming up fast, which means that fans will get the chance to watch the league's best talent all in one place for a weekend. And the culminating event is obviously the All-Star Game on Sunday, which will have a new format.
But before that, the annual Rising Stars Challenge will begin on Friday, and that is an event that definitely cannot be overlooked.
It featured the NBA's up-and-coming stars, as well as some of the best players from the G League. Carmelo Anthony, Tracy McGrady, and Vince Carter drafted from a pool of the best rookies and sophomores, and Austin Rivers has his group of G-League guys.
And as far as the San Antonio Spurs are concerned, Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle are in a pretty good spot to win the whole thing.
They are both on Team Carmelo, who notably selected Dallas Mavericks superstar rookie Cooper Flagg with the first overall pick. So not only does Melo have potentially this season's Rookie of the Year in Flagg, but he also has last year's winner in Castle.
And to top it all off, he was also able to get this past draft's second overall pick in Dylan Harper.
Castle and Harper are having very solid seasons for the Spurs with 16 and 10 points per game, respectively. They have been very big factors in San Antonio fighting their way to second place in the Western Conference, and they will continue to be huge parts of the team for years to come.
So with talent like that on his roster, Carmelo looks to be in a very good spot to take home the Rising Stars Challenge trophy.
The four teams will play in semifinal games that are played as first to 40 points, and the winners of those two games play in the championship game where the first team to get to 25 takes it all.
Castle and Harper will be the first of quite a few Spurs players to take part in All-Star Weekend, and hopefully, San Antonio's guys will be able to impress in the NBA world and put on a show at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.