The up-and-coming studs of the NBA will take the national stage on Friday night in the 2016 NBA Rising Stars Challenge.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have three players: Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns and Zach LaVine, who are all under the age of 21 participating in this year’s game.
With the format being USA vs. World, Wiggins, last year’s game MVP for the World team, will get a chance to play against his teammates in Towns and LaVine.
“We just got a plan of opening a can of kick-butt on them tonight,” Towns said to NBA TV’s Kristen Ledlow at practice today. “We’re going to do a great job tonight, we have a great team, very talented, so we can’t wait.”
Although Wiggins has another loaded team this year, the reigning slam-dunk champion is confident that Team USA will bring home the title.
“Me and Karl are coming after him,” LaVine said. “I feel like this might be the last year between us two to get the bragging rights because after this one we aren’t going to be able to play in the game anymore. We want the bragging rights coming back to Minnesota.”
There is no denying the fact that the future is bright for the Wolves, and there’s no better way to prove it than having three players Wolves players selected to play in the ‘NBA’s best prospects game.’
“We got a nice young core,” Wiggins said. “With a couple more of the right pieces we can be a good team in this league. They’re going to come out playing good, playing aggressive, I’m confident in them, I’m confident in the world team too so it should be a good game.”
There are a combined 10 players who were top-10 overall selections in their respective drafts and Minnesota and the Utah Jazz are tied for having three players in the game representing their teams.
Wiggins will team up with Kristaps Porzingis and Emmanuel Mudiay for Team World, and will have a tough task going against not only teammates Towns and LaVine, but also D’Angelo Russell, Jahlil Okafor and Jabari Parker.
Tune in tonight at 8:00 p.m. to see the young stars battle it out on TNT.
