Herb Jones selected to NBA Rising Stars game

By WVUA 23 Digital Reporter Jeremy Bryant

Former Alabama basketball standout Herb Jones has been chosen to participate in this year’s 2022 All-Star Clorox Rising Stars game.

Jones was selected 35th in the 2021 draft to the New Orleans Pelicans as part a rebuilding process around all-star forwards Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson. Jones has flashed brilliant talent over the course of his first year in the NBA. In fact, he is averaging double-digit points and shooting over 50% in his last 10 games.

Jones was announced as a participant on TNT during Tuesday’s broadcast. He will now enter a pool of 28 players including 12 rookies, 12 sophomores and 4 NBA G league Ignite players as part of a new format.

The full list of players invited to the game can be viewed here.

This year’s edition of the rising stars game will feature each player getting drafted into a total of four teams by members of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team, whom of which will also serve as the coaches of the four teams.

The game has been described as a “Race to 75” in which the first team to reach 75 points within the three-game tournament wins. The game will not feature a game clock for the entirety of each game. Similar to the 2021 NBA All-Star game where the leading team’s score after three quarters plus twenty-four points was the target score to win the game in honor of the late Kobe Bryant.

Jones played for the Alabama Basketball squad for four years accruing an esteemed list of accomplishments. Jones made the SEC all-defensive team twice during his tenure. He also became SEC player of the year and Defensive player of the year in his final season with the Tide.

The Rising Stars game will be held in Cleveland, Ohio at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse Arena on Feb. 18. The game will be televised at 8 p.m. on TNT.