Reed Sheppard, Tristen Newton to represent Rockets in NBA Rising Stars

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 game will be held on Friday, February 13th at the Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers.

Shepard was selected by the Rockets with the third overall pick in the first round of 2024, while Newton was selected in the second round of the same draft. He joined the Rockets on a two-way contract earlier this month.

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Overall, the player pool consists of 10 rookies, 11 second-year players (including Shepard) and seven G League players (including Newton). 21 rookies and sophomores were selected to three teams, while seven G League players made up the fourth team.

On February 13, the Rising Stars Challenge will feature four seven-man teams competing in three matches. The target score for the two semifinals is 40 points, while the target score for the championship game is 25 points.

NBA players (Shepard) are selected by NBA assistant coaches, while G League players (Newton) are selected by the league office. Each team submitted one rookie ballot and one sophomore ballot, which included four frontcourt players, four guards and two additional players at any position.

Newton will be a member of the G-League team and will be coached by Austin Rivers. Meanwhile, Shepard will play for recent Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Carmelo Anthony.

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Rivers and Anthony were both members of the Rockets in the 2018-19 season, and Rivers also played for Houston in the 2019-20 season.