Golden State Warriors rookie forward Jonathan Kuminga has been selected to participate in the 2022 Clorox Rising Stars, the league announced today. Kuminga will replace injured Indiana Pacers rookie guard Chris Duarte in the competition. The annual showcase will take place on Friday, Feb. 18 (6 p.m. on TNT) at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland as part of NBA All-Star 2022. Kuminga is the fourth Warriors player in the last three seasons to be named to the Rising Stars Roster.
Kuminga, 19, owns averages of 7.9 points and 2.8 rebounds in 14.3 minutes over 46 games (seven starts) for Golden State this season. Originally selected by the Warriors with the seventh overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, Kuminga has scored 20-plus points three times in his rookie campaign and has scored in double figures 15 times, including each of his last seven games. He is the youngest player in franchise history to score at least 25 points in a game. The rookie forward has scored in double figures in each of the 13 games in which he’s logged at least 20 minutes, averaging 16.7 points in those contests.
Kuminga has appeared in an additional seven games (all starts) with the team’s G League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors, averaging 17.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.29 steals in 32.2 minutes per game.
As part of a new format for 2022, Clorox Rising Stars will feature four seven-player teams competing in a mini-tournament consisting of three games. Each game will be played to a Final Target Score, meaning that a game will end with a made basket or a made free throw instead of with the clock running out.
The pool of 28 players for Clorox Rising Stars consists of 12 first-year NBA players, 12 second-year NBA players and four players from NBA G League Ignite, a first-of-its-kind team dedicated to developing top prospects in preparation for the NBA Draft. The 24 NBA players were selected by NBA assistant coaches, while the G League Ignite players were selected by NBA G League head coaches.
In the mini-tournament, Team A will face Team B in the first semifinal (Game 1) and Team C will play Team D in the second semifinal (Game 2). The winner of Game 1 will meet the winner of Game 2 in the final (Game 3). The competition will consist of a “race to 75” points in honor of the NBA’s landmark 75th Anniversary Season. The semifinal games will be played to a Final Target Score of 50. The final game will be played to a Final Target Score of 25, for a total of 75 points across the semifinal and final. In addition, a timed shooting competition called the Clorox Clutch Challenge will take place between Games 2 and 3 of Clorox Rising Stars. A total of eight NBA and NBA G League Ignite players will be divided into four teams of two and compete to make shots from five locations on the court tied to iconic shots made in the NBA Playoffs.