Second-year forward Jae’Sean Tate and rookies Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun will represent the Houston Rockets in the Rising Stars competition at the NBA’s 2022 All-Star weekend in Cleveland, while Green will also reportedly take part in Saturday’s slam dunk contest.
Two players who could make a case for those types of honors, but aren’t currently on either lineup, are second-year forward KJ Martin and rookie guard Josh Christopher. Each took to Twitter shortly after Tuesday night’s announcements and seemed to express relative displeasure.
In both cases, it was likely a numbers game, with the NBA looking to spread the wealth among as many of its 30 teams as possible. No team has more than Houston’s three Rising Stars representatives, so even if Martin or Christopher was more deserving than another selection, they may have missed out due to the NBA trying to broaden its team pool.
