The NBA announced yesterday that they will be using a new format for the 2022 Rising Stars, which will be held on Friday, February 18th at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse as a part of NBA All-Star 2022 weekend.

Before this season, the best rookies and sophomores faced off in a “USA vs. the World” game. However, the event was scrapped entirely last season due to COVID-19. Now, there will be four teams of seven players competing in a mini-tournament, playing to a set final score instead of being timed. The first round of games will go to 50, and the finals will go to 25 points in honor of the league’s 75th anniversary.

Alongside 12 rookies and 12 sophomores, four members of the G-League Ignite will join them. Another new piece is a member of the NBA’s 75th-anniversary team will be coaching each team.

Inbetween the semi-finals and the championship, eight players will be paired up and compete in another mini-tournament where they have to make five iconic shots from NBA history before the other team does.

It seems like a lot, but I get why the league is doing this. The Rising Star game is the least-watched or cared about event over All-Star weekend. Fans would rather watch Kevin Hart play in a celebrity game instead of an in-game dunk contest between Ja Morant and Luka Doncic.

Adding incoming rookies will be cool, but it just seems like the NBA is trying to do too much with the event and overdoing the homage to their history. We get it’s the NBA’s 75th Anniversary, you don’t have to remind us at every turn. However, will I still be mad if Tyrese Maxey is somehow snubbed? Absolutely.

So far, the news around All-Star weekend is off to a pretty lame start following the leaked uniforms from earlier in the week.

The final rosters should be unveiled in the coming weeks, with Joel Embiid and hopefully Ben Simmons making the cut.

Mandatory Credit: USA Today Sports