Jan. 27, 2026, 7:18 p.m. CT

Second-year players Reed Sheppard and Tristen Newton will represent the Houston Rockets at the annual Castrol Rising Stars event during the NBA’s 2026 All-Star Weekend. The competition will take place Friday, Feb. 13 at the Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers.

Sheppard was drafted by the Rockets at No. 3 overall in the 2024 first round, while Newton was a second-round selection in that same draft class. He joined the Rockets earlier this month on a two-way contract.

Overall, the player pool consists of 10 rookies, 11 second-year players (including Sheppard), and seven players from the G League (including Newton). The 21 rookies and sophomores were drafted onto three teams, while the seven G League players comprise the fourth team.

On Feb. 13, the Rising Stars challenge features those four seven-player teams competing in a three-game tournament. The two semifinal games are played to a target score of 40, while the championship will be played to a target score of 25 points.

The NBA players (Sheppard) were selected by NBA assistant coaches, while G League players (Newton) were selected by the league office. Each team submitted a rookie ballot and a sophomore ballot featuring four frontcourt players, four guards, and two additional players of any position.

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Newton will be coached by Austin Rivers as part of the G League team. Meanwhile, Sheppard will play for Carmelo Anthony, a recent inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Both Rivers and Anthony were members of the 2018-19 Rockets, while Rivers also played with Houston in 2019-20.

Sheppard, 21, is averaging 12.9 points (39.6% on 3-pointers) and 3.1 assists in 24.8 minutes per game this season. The 6-foot-2 guard was drafted after one collegiate season at Kentucky.

Newton, 24, is averaging 26.5 points (50.0% FG, 37.8% on 3-pointers), 5.9 assists, and 4.5 rebounds per game in this season’s G League. The 6-foot-5 guard played in college at Connecticut, where he won consecutive national championships in 2023 and 2024 and was named Most Outstanding Player of the 2024 NCAA Final Four.

More: ‘Exponentially better’: Wolves impressed by Houston’s Tristen Newton