NBA Rising Stars Roster Announced – Terrance Ferguson misses cut

OKC Thunder rookie Terrance Ferguson was not included among the rookies and sophomores selected to participate in the All-Star Rising Stars game .

Perhaps it’s not that surprising Terrance Ferguson didn’t make the cut to be included in the Rising Stars rookie – sophomore game.

As in the past few seasons the structure of this match has switched to the World vs. the U.S.A.  Given the horde of American talent it was always going to be a difficult task to make the U.S. Team. With Ferguson only just recently cracking the lineup and getting consistent minutes it truly was a long shot.

Still, with his break out performance in LA connecting on six perimeter shots and delivering two thunderous (no pun intended) dunks, there was an outside chance.

Perhaps the more shocking omission is he doesn’t appear to have been asked to compete in All-Star Saturday night as part of the Dunk Competition. Although that fact has yet to be confirmed CBS tweeted out the participants would be Mavericks Dennis Smith Jr., former OKC Thunder guard, now Pacers star Victor Oladipo, sentimental favorite Aaron Gordon and local LA player Larry Nance Jr. All understandable selections.

As for the Rookie – Sophomore game the teams break down as such:

All World Team:

• Frank Ntilikina (R) – New York Knicks point guard, Ixelles, Belgium
• Buddy Hield (S)- Sacramento Kings, shooting guard, Freeport, Bahamas
• Jamal Murray (S) – Denver Nuggets, guard, Kitchener, Canada
• Ben Simmons (R) – Philadelphia 76ers, point guard, Fitzroy, Australia
• Bogdan Bogdanovic (R)  – Sacramento Kings, shooting guard Belgrade Serbia
• Dillon Brooks (R) – Memphis Grizzlies, small forward, Mississauga, Canada
• Dario Saric (S) – Philadelphia 76ers, power forward,  Sibenik, Croatia
• Lauri Markkanen (R) – Chicago Bulls, power forward, Vantaa, Finland
• Domantas Sabonis (S) – Indiana Pacers,  power forward, (born: Portland Oregon) – Lithuania
• Joel Embiid (S) – Philadelphia 76ers, center, Yaounde, Cameroon

Team USA:

• Dennis Smith Jr (R) – Dallas Mavericks, point guard,
• Lonzo Ball (R) – LA Lakers, point guard, Anaheim, California
• Kris Dunn (S) – Chicago Bulls, point guard,  New London, Connecticut
• Malcolm Brogdon (S) – Milwaukee Bucks, point guard, Atlanta, Georgia
• Donovan Mitchell (R) – Utah Jazz, shooting guard, Elmsford, New York
• Jaylen Brown (S) – Boston Celtics, small forward,  Marietta, Georgia
• Jayson Tatum (R) – Boston Celtics, small forward, St. Louis, Missouri
• Brandon Ingram (S) – LA Lakers, small forward, Kinston, North Carolina
• Kyle Kuzma (R) – LA Lakers, power forward, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• John Collins (R) – Atlanta Hawks, power forward, West Palm Beach, Florida

Snubs:

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• 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

Examining the list of Americans there are so many solid guards it would have been very difficult for Terrance Ferguson to get selected over Mitchell, Smith Jr, Brogdon, Dunn and Ball.

The other glaring omission is the Toronto Raptors quartet of Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Jakob Poeltl and Pascal Siakam who were all left off the teams. Given how inherent the youngsters have been to Toronto’s success this is shocking.

Similarly, the Spurs Dejounte Murray sure seemed like a lock to make the team and with only LeMarcus Aldridge in the big game, it seems like a massive oversight.

With the Miami Heat getting no love with the reserves for the big game, it’s also kind of surprising they didn’t reward Bam Adebayo with a nod.

Likewise Jarrett Allen has been a steadying force for the Brooklyn Nets or Caris LeVert who also have no players represented in the big game.

It’s a curious choice to have Joel Embiid listed to play on  this team given he’s in the main event Sunday. Again, the Raptors have three players who could’ve filled a World spot with Anunoby from the United Kingdom, Poeltl from Austria and Siakam like Embiid from the Cameroon.

If Embiid plays limited minutes it will become an even larger narrative as he could simply step aside for one of the deserving rookies or sophomores to take his place.