Thursday night, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal conducted their draft for the Rising Stars Game (previously the rookie/sophomore game) at All Star Weekend. Both Cavaliers rookies were available in the draft pool and Charles and Shaq then went on to draft these players to assemble their teams.
Shaq had the first pick and took Blake Griffin, which makes sense. He's clearly the best player out of those available and it probably would have been stupid to pick anyone else. Charles then had second pick and decided to go with our own Kyrie Irving.
Shaq questioned Sir Charles decision to pass on Jeremy Lin, but Charles simply scoffed at him, saying:
"Kyrie Irving is terrific and he’s going to hand it to Lin and if Ricky Rubio wants some…he can come get some too."
Boom.
Tristan Thompson ended up on Shaq's team and will play against Irving.
Full rosters for the Rising Star Challenge after the jump.
Here's Shaq's team:
Blake Griffin, LA Clippers
Jeremy Lin, NY Knicks
Ricky Rubio, Minnesota Timberwolves
Markieff Morris, Phoenix Suns
Kemba Walker, Charlotte Bobcats
Landry Fields, NY Knicks
Norris Cole, Miami Heat
Brandon Knight, Detroit Pistons
Tristan Thompson, Cleveland Cavaliers
Greg Monroe, Detroit Pistons
Here's Barkley's team:
Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers
DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento Kings
Derrick Williams, Minnesota Timberwolves
Paul George, Indiana Pacers
MarShon Brooks, NJ Nets
John Wall, Washington Wizards
Tiago Splitter, San Antonio Spurs
Evan Turner, Philadelphia 76ers
Gordon Hayward, Utah Jazz
Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs