The Tribune

BUDDY Hield has made his desire to participate at All-Star Weekend well known and that dream came to fruition yesterday when he was honoured as one of the NBA’s “Rising Stars.”

Hield was named to the “World Team” roster of the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge, a game that traditionally features the best rookie and sophomore players in the league.

For the third consecutive year, the game has taken on an international appeal, with the “USA vs. The World” format.

NBA opening night rosters for the 2016-17 season featured a record 113 international players from a record 41 countries and territories. This marked the third consecutive season that opening night rosters included at least 100 international players and that all 30 teams had at least one international player.

The game will be televised live by TNT from the Smoothie King Center at 9pm local time on Friday, February 17.

BBVA Compass, the Official Bank of the NBA, maintains its role as title partner for the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge.

In 45 games, including 25 starts thus far, Hield is fourth among rookies in scoring at 8.8 points points per game and shooting .37 per cent from three-point range. He also adds 2.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists in approximately 20 minutes per game.

Hield was named the Western Conference Rookie of the Month for December after leading West rookies in scoring at 10.6 points per game and a three-point field goal percentage of 48 while he also led all rookies with 33 three pointers made.

Hield has undergone an up and down rookie season in terms of playing time, whether he has been in the starting lineup or not.

“It’s nice to know I’m going in the game. It’ll probably suck more not knowing if I was going to play or not. You just want to be there for your team. As a player I think I’m ready to go, ready to make that next step, but the coaches, they’re still going to hold me back,” Hield said yesterday at Pelicans practice just ahead of last night’s matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder, “They have a lot of guys that have been in the league longer than me and I understand that. They have more trust in guys like E’Tuwan [Moore] and Langston [Galloway] because of their track shows they have more experience. I just have to wait until my opportunity comes, they say it’s a game of opportunities, you just have to take advantage of it.”

The World team includes five rookies and five second year players.

Joining Hield on the World Team is Joel Embiid (Cameroon) of the Philadelphia 76ers, as well as two members of the 2015-16 NBA All-Rookie First Team in Serbian center Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets and Latvian forward Kristaps Porzingis of the New York Knicks, along with Emmanuel Mudiay (Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Jamal Murray (Canada) of the Denver Nuggets, Danté Exum (Australia) and Trey Lyles (Canada) of the Utah Jazz, Domantas Sabonis (Lithuania) of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Dario Saric (Croatia) of the 76ers.

The U.S. Team features three rookies and seven second year players headlined by Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The remainder of the team includes Devin Booker and Marquese Chriss of the Phoenix Suns, Malcolm Brogdon of the Milwaukee Bucks, Brandon Ingram and D’Angelo Russell of the Los Angeles Lakers, Frank Kaminsky of the Charlotte Hornets, Jhalil Okafor of the Philadelphia 76ers, Jonathan Simmons of the San Antonio Spurs and Myles Turner of the Indiana Pacers.

The NBA’s assistant coaches chose the rosters for the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge, with each of the league’s 30 teams submitting one ballot per coaching staff. Coaches selected four guards, four frontcourt players and two players at either position group for each team. They also picked a minimum of three first-year players and three second-year players for each team.

The head coaches for the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge will be lead assistant coaches from the 2017 NBA All-Star Game coaching staffs.