{"id":437048,"date":"2026-01-27T19:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T19:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/437048\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T19:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T19:20:08","slug":"kings-rookie-snubbed-from-nba-rising-stars-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/437048\/","title":{"rendered":"Kings Rookie Snubbed From NBA Rising Stars Game"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"65\">The Sacramento Kings have made it clear that they are striving to get younger, and while they still have the NBA&#8217;s third-oldest roster, they have a few young players who will help the franchise build toward the future. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"68\">The Kings&#8217; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nba\/kings\/onsi\/sacramento-kings-news\/kings-report-cards-midseason-review-of-the-three-rookies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">2025 rookie class<\/a> is arguably one of the league&#8217;s best, as they brought in first-rounder Nique Clifford, second-rounder Maxime Raynaud, and undrafted free agent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nba\/kings\/onsi\/sacramento-kings-news\/sacramento-kings-need-to-convert-this-two-way-rookie-sooner-than-later\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Dylan Cardwell<\/a>, who have all made an impact in their own way. However, none of them are being recognized among the league&#8217;s top rookies. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6b\">On Monday, the NBA announced the 2026 Rising Stars Game player pool, and notably, no Kings were selected.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The 2026 Castrol Rising Stars Player Pool!<\/p>\n<p>NBA Rookies and Sophomores will be drafted onto three teams on Tuesday (1\/27) at 7:00pm\/et on Peacock, with NBA G League players to comprise the fourth team.<\/p>\n<p>The four teams will compete in the Castrol Rising Stars mini tournament on\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7jtxcCRGgp\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/7jtxcCRGgp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBA (@NBA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBA\/status\/2015950996145414188?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">January 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6h\">The rookies selected to the game: Cedric Coward (MEM), Egor Demin (BKN), VJ Edgecombe (PHI), Jeremiah Fears (NOP), Cooper Flagg (DAL), Dylan Harper (SAS), Tre Johnson (WAS), Kon Knueppel (CHA), Collin Murray-Boyles (TOR), and Derik Queen (NOP). Surprisingly, all ten rookies selected were lottery picks in the 2025 NBA Draft. <\/p>\n<p>Making the case for Maxime Raynaud<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6n\">While it is no surprise to see Clifford or Cardwell left out, or sophomore Devin Carter, for that matter, Kings rookie Maxime Raynaud certainly made a solid case to be included in the game. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6q\">With three-time All-Star Domantas Sabonis missing two months with an injury, Raynaud stepped into the starting lineup to fill that void. With the increased opportunity, Raynaud surprised a lot of people. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6t\">In 39 appearances this season, and 24 starts, Raynaud is averaging 9.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game while shooting 53.4% from the field. While Raynaud is not the league&#8217;s best rookie by any means, he has been very productive and likely deserves some recognition. Whose spot would he take, though?<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6w\">While this is a very talented rookie class and all of these players are deserving, Raynaud potentially could have been selected over Raptors forward Collin Murray-Boyles. The rookie out of South Carolina is averaging 7.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.0 assists through 37 appearances and 13 starts, while shooting 53.6% from the field. <\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">9.5 PTS<br \/>6.4 REB<br \/>53% FG<br \/>6 double-doubles <br \/>4th among rookies in total rebounds<br \/>10th among rookies in points <\/p>\n<p>Averaging 11 &amp; 8 over 24 games as a starter.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026Not a Rising Star.<\/p>\n<p>The Sacramento Kings have been bad, but Maxime Raynaud deserves better. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cykZ98zzJ5\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/cykZ98zzJ5<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Frankie Cartoscelli (@FCartoscelli3) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FCartoscelli3\/status\/2015939352799674404?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">January 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"72\">From a statistical standpoint, Raynaud certainly has a case over Murray-Boyles, but the Raptors rookie has made a huge impact for that team, especially on the defensive end, making it hard to say who deserves a spot more. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"75\">Raynaud is currently 12th among rookies in points per game and fourth in rebounds per game, while having the ninth-best field goal percentage. By the end of the season, it will be hard to deny Raynaud a spot on the All-Rookie Teams, especially if Sabonis gets traded at the deadline and his role increases again.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"78\">It would have been great to see Raynaud get some actual recognition from the league, as he has certainly earned a spot in the Rising Stars Game, but he received an unfavorable draw against a talented rookie class. <\/p>\n<p>Recommended Articles<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sacramento Kings have made it clear that they are striving to get younger, and while they still&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-437048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}