Former Penn State men's basketball center Yanic Konan Niederhauser was selected in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft. The 30th overall pick was drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers and since then, he played in 34 contests.
On Feb. 13, the NBA rookie has yet another stop in his professional career: the Castrol Rising Stars game. The mini-tournament features four teams that will compete in a three-game event. The semifinal games are played to 40 points and the championship game is played to 25.
Konan Niederhauser is one of 34 young NBA players participating in the rising stars game. He is on one of the two nine-person teams, joining Team Austin for the event. Austin Rivers, a former NBA shooting guard, is the team's honorary coach. Rivers played in the league for 12 seasons, wrapping up his time after the 2022-23 season with the Minnesota Timberwolves. For the Castrol Rising Stars tournament, he is coaching the G-league team.
Rivers' team, alongside the former Nittany Lion, includes rookie Utah Jazz guard Sean East II, third-year Boston Celtics guard Ron Harper Jr., guard Alijah Martin, rookie Toronto Raptors guard Tristen Newton, rookie Portland Trail Blazers front-court Yang Hansen, second-year Miami Heat guard Jahmir Young, third-year Chicago Bulls guard Mac McClung, and rookie San Antonio Spurs guard David Jones Garcia. Due to injury, Jones Garcia will not play in the mini-tournament.
Team Austin faces Team Melo on Friday with tip off slated for 9 p.m. ET at Inuit Dome. The winner of Game 1 faces the winner of Game 2 in the Rising Stars Championship Game. Team Vince and Team T-Mac face off starting at 9:55 p.m. ET. The championship game start time is slated for 10:35 p.m. ET.
The tournament highlighting the young pro talent is part of NBA All-Star 2026. This is a three-night event that ends with the 2026 NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 15.
It kicks off with a Ruffles NBA All-Star Celebrity Game airing on ESPN at 7 p.m ET before the Rising Stars contests are streamed live on Peacock. Friday nght caps off with the NBA HBCU Classic at 11 p.m. ET on ESPN2 and NBA TV.
Saturday begins at 2 p.m. ET with All-Star Media Day followed by media with commissioner Adam Silver. A series of events, like the three-point contest and slam dunk contest, take up the rest of Saturday's schedule.
NBA Legends Awards and NBA G League Next Up Game precede the All-Star games. The first All-Star game is slated for 5 p.m. ET on Sunday followed by the second and third contests. The third game is between the two losing teams from the first two contests. The All-Star Championship Game begins at 7:10 p.m. ET. All four games can be watched on NBC or Peacock.