Not too long ago, the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge was composed of two teams, with first year players on one team and second year players on another. In 2012, the format was changed, and NBA legends Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley picked the teams, and it turned into a mixture of rookies and sophomores on one team. In 2014, Grant Hill and Chris Webber were the ones who chose the teams.

However, this year, we have yet another new format which will be first and second year players from the United States on one team, and first and second year players from around the world on another team.

The Rising Star Challenge is designed for the young studs in the league to showcase their talent to the world. It is usually an up-tempo game filled with many dunks and long ball shooting which results into a very high scoring game. The contest will be two, 20-minute halves.

Last year, Andre Drummond led Team Hill to victory with a monster performance of 30 points and 25 rebounds. Team Hill beat Team Webber, 142-136, and Drummond was awarded with the MVP award.

“My mindset was to come out and play with energy, like I’ve been doing all year,” Drummond said. “I had my mind set to win the MVP, so I went out there and did it.”

That’s correct. Many of these young guys come into the game looking to win the MVP award, so it is likely to see them working hard out there to build up their stats.

Trey Burke of the Utah Jazz, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope of the Detroit Pistons, Robert Covington and Nerlens Noel of the Philadelphia 76ers, Zach LaVine  and Shabazz Muhammad of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Elfrid Payton and Victor Oladipo of the Orlando Magic, Mason Plumlee of the Brooklyn Nets, and Cody Zeller of the Charlotte Hornets will represent the U.S. Team. Michael Carter-Williams was also selected to play, but he will sit out with an injury.

For the World Team, we have “The Greek Freak,” Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks, Bojan Bogdanovic of the Brooklyn Nets, Matthew Dellavedova of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Gorgui Dieng and Andrew Wiggins of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Dante Exum and Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz, Nikola Mirotic of the Chicago Bulls, Kostas Papanikolaou of the Houston Rockets, and Dennis Schroder of the Atlanta Hawks. Steven Adams, Jusuf Nurkic, and Kelly Olynyk were also selected, but all three are currently nursing injuries and will not play.

Golden State Warriors assistant coach Alvin Gentry will coach the U.S. Team, while Atlanta Hawks assistant coach Kenny Atkinson will coach the World Team.

It should be an entertaining one, as all four of the Dunk Contest participants will be put on display in this game. Perhaps we may see a preview of what’s to come in the Dunk competition Saturday night.

Prediction: U.S. Team Wins; Victor Oladipo Wins MVP