Portland Path Blazers guard Scoot Henderson (00) fields a cross throughout an NBA basketball recreation in opposition to the Houston Rockets Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, in Portland, Ore. The Houston Rockets received 125-103. (AP Picture/Amanda Loman)
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DENVER — Denver Nuggets guard Julian Strawther will likely be a part of All-Star weekend after being chosen to the Rising Stars occasion as an damage substitute.
Strawther takes the place of Portland guard Scoot Henderson, who suffered an ankle damage lately. The league introduced the substitute Wednesday forward of Denver’s recreation in opposition to Portland.
The 22-year-Strawther has performed in 54 video games this season, averaging 9.6 factors a recreation. He leads all second-year bench gamers in complete factors (479), minutes performed (1,112), area targets made (170) and 3-pointers made (79).
These days, he’s been moved into the beginning lineup with Russell Westbrook sidelined by a hamstring damage. Strawther turns into the seventeenth Nuggets participant to symbolize the workforce within the Rising Stars showcase. The final participant to earn the honour was Bones Hyland in 2023.
A product of Las Vegas, Strawther was a first-round decide by Indiana in 2023 after a stellar profession at Gonzaga. The Nuggets acquired him in a draft-night commerce.
Denver is 26-8 when Strawther performs greater than 20 minutes. He’s additionally obtained one other spectacular stat in progress, too — 3-0 when he’s within the beginning lineup.
The Rising Stars recreation will likely be performed on Friday at Chase Middle in San Francisco. It’s a match that includes 4 rosters of seven gamers every. Groups will play semifinal video games the place the primary to 40 factors wins; these semifinal winners will then play in a championship recreation, with the successful workforce being the primary one to 25 factors.
The successful workforce within the Rising Stars match would be the fourth workforce within the All-Star Recreation, alongside three groups of NBA gamers.
Strawther joins “Team M,” which will likely be coached by Mitch Richmond. His teammates embody Houston’s Amen Thompson, Detroit’s Ausar Thompson, Portland’s Toumani Camara, New Orleans’ Yves Missi and two gamers from Washington in Bub Carrington and Bilal Coulibaly.