NBA All-Star 2020: 4 Rising Stars Repping Canada

For Canadian NBA fans, there’s no shortage of reasons to get excited about this weekend’s 69th annual All-Star Game in Chicago. For starters, All-Star Saturday Night is a consistently more enjoyable February holiday than Valentine’s Day. (Come @ me, bro.) There’s more, of course—like Pascal Siakam getting picked to run with the big dogs as an All-Star starter (and in the Skills Challenge) or Kyle Lowry making his sixth ASG appearance, joining his IRL teammate on Team Giannis. Plus, Nick Nurse will be bringing his All-Star worthy fits to the United Center sideline.

Then there’s also all the homegrown Canadian talent that will be repping the Great White North in the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday night: a record four players, topping the previous best of three from 2016, when the game was held in Toronto. (Even if, OK, fine, many Raptors fans would’ve been significantly more hyped to see their breakout rookie Terence Davis make the Rising Stars roster than any/all of the below.)

Here’s who’ll be showcasing their skills for Team Canada—sorry, Team World—on Friday night, how they’ve been faring so far this season, and what to look out for in the second half.