A brief history of the Warriors in All-Star Rookie-Sophomore games

Pat Spencer, Trayce-Jackson Davis and Quinten Post will all be competing in the Rising Stars Challenge at All-Star Weekend, becoming part of a history that started with Chris Webber and included infuriating Carlos Boozer.

The Golden State Warriors may be mired in 11th place, but based on the selections for this season’s All-Star Game, their future may be bright. With rookie Quinten Post, Trayce Jackson-Davis, and Pat Spencer, the team will be well-represented at All-Star Weekend at the Chase Center. Let’s look back on how Warriors have done in the various incarnations of the NBA’s rookie and sophomore games.

1994: Rookie Challenge

It used to be so much simpler. The NBA now has mixed teams of rookies, sophomores, and G Leaguers, complicated round-robin formats and somehow, a chance to play against actual All-Stars. Back in 1994, the game was only rookies, mixed into random teams, playing a normal game of basketball.

In 1994, Chris Webber scored 18 points and collected 10 rebounds as his Phenoms defeated the Sensations, 74-68. Even with his stellar performance in the win, Anfernee Hardaway won MVP by scoring 22 points on the losing team. C-Webb wuz robbed! The game also featured a number of future Warriors: Chris Mills, Nick Van Exel, and Calbert Cheaney, plus TJD’s father, Antonio Davis.

1996: Rookie Challenge, East vs. West

No. 1 overall pick Joe Smith had 20 points and six rebounds while blocking two shots, but it wasn’t enough to get past MVP Damon Stoudamire and the East, who won a thriller, 94-92. On a team with Smith, Kevin Garnett, Arvydas Sabonis, Antonio McDyess, Michael Finely, and Brent Barry, the minutes leader was...the Sacramento Kings’ Tyus Edney. Warriors assistant Jerry Stackhouse had 15 points.

1997: Rookie Challenge

Kobe Bryant led all rookies with 31 points, but the East defeated the West. Despite the West having 10 players on its roster, Warriors rookie Todd Fuller didn’t make the team. He was drafted two picks ahead of Bryant,

2001: Rookies vs. Sophomore

After a five-year stretch with no Warriors in the rookie game, Marc “Unstoppable, Baby!” Jackson played a game-high 27 minutes for the Rookies. Though he was already 26 years old, it was Jackson’s first season in the NBA, and he finished third in the Rookie of the Year vote, winning two Rookie of the Month awards. After the season, he signed an offer sheet with the Houston Rockets, and the Warriors matched it, benched him out of spite, then traded him at the deadline for 35-year-old Dean Garrett and a second-round pick five years later. The Chris Cohen era, everybody!

Anyway, Jackson scored eight points in the game, as the 2000 draft class was one of the worst of all time, producing just three All-Stars, who each made a single All-Star Game (Michael Redd, Jamaal Magloire, and Kenyon Martin). The weakness of those players became apparent in...

2002-03: Rookies vs. Sophomores

Golden State had an incredible rookie class in 2001, adding Gilbert Arenas, Troy Murphy, and Jason Richardson, the latter of whom won MVP honors in the 2002 contest, won by the Rookies, 103-97. J-Rich had 26 points to lead a star-studded team that included Hall of Famers Pau Gasol and Tony Parker, plus seven-time All-Star and three-time BIG3 MVP Joe Johnson.

In the following year, Gilbert Arenas won MVP by scoring 30 points and sinking six three-pointers, while Richardson added 31 points and five steals. The Rookies won, 132-112, helped a little bit by Murphy’s two points and seven rebounds. But the most memorable moment came in the fourth quarter, when Richardson bounced the basketball off the head of rookie Carlos Boozer, then sank a three-pointer. It’s one of the most disrespectful things ever to happen in any organized NBA game, and it broke Boozer to the point that he once tried to dye his hair with what looked like shoe polish.

2004: Rookies vs. Sophomores

Former No. 3 pick and current Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy, Jr. had six points as his fellow Rookies Amar’e Stoudemire, Flip Murray, and Boozer combined to defeat a pre-Heatles team of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh, along with Carmelo Anthony, 142-118. The game took place in Los Angeles, so we can assume they nursed their hurt feelings from the defeat by renting a banana boat at the marina.

2007: Rookies vs. Sophomores

Monta Ellis helped the Sophomores stomp the Rookies, 155-114, with a 28-point performance where he shot 13-for-16. Normally that would win him an MVP trophy, but future Warrior David Lee was a perfect 14-for-14 from the field on his way to 30 points and 11 rebounds. Future Warrior Chris Paul had 17 assists and nine steals.

As for the other Warriors, neither 2005 No. 9 pick Ike Diogu nor 20006 No. 9 pick Patrick O’Bryant ever participated in a Rookie-Sophomore game.

2010-11: Rookies vs. Sophomores

Tyreke Evans won MVP with 26 points as Steph Curry’s Rookies won 140-128, despite Russell Westbrook scoring 40 points and taking 29 shots. Curry wasn’t even the highest-scoring Warrior in the game, with Anthony Morrow’s 15 points beating his 14. From a 2024 perspective, it’s strange to see Curry and James Harden taking fewer shots combined than Westbrook, while Kevin Love and Marc Gasol played the same minutes as Westbrook.

Curry returned the next season but lost to the Rookies, 140-140, as John Wall delivered 22 assists. He scored only 13 points, while Harden led the Sophomores with 30 points. Meanwhile DeJuan Blair had 28 points and 15 rebounds, one season after pulling down 23 rebounds in the previous game. If only he’d had ACLs in his knees!

2013-14: Rising Stars

Both Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes were drafted to Team Shaq, but Team Chuck took home the win, 163-135. Thompson scored 11 points, the Black Falcon had 12, but Kenneth Faried scored 40 to win the MVP and bring Charles Barkley the win.

Barnes did get a win the next season as part of Team Grant Hill, putting up an efficient 16 points alongside a monster game from Andre Drummond, who scored 30 points and a Blair-like 25 rebounds. Harrison Barnes: A glue guy even in exhibition games.

2015-16: MVP Wiggs

In 2015, the United States’s rookies and sophomores went up against the World’s, and the World won, thanks in large part to “Maple Jordan” himself, Andrew Wiggins, and his 22 points. No Warriors at the time played in the game, though current Warriors Dennis Schroder had nine assists.

Wiggins had 29 points on 13-for-15 shooting the next year as the World repeated as champions in his home country of Canada. The blow to American prestige in no longer dominating a marginally-popular All-Star exhibition may have opened the door for the election of Donald Trump that fall.

2020: USA vs. The World

How did the USA get back on top? They got Eric Goddamn Paschall on the team to pour in 23 points on 10-for-13 shooting, only to get cruelly robbed of his rightful MVP trophy after Miles Bridges got it with a measly 20 points.

2021: No Game

James Wiseman was a Rising Star this season, perhaps the final time Wiseman was considered a rising star. Mychal Mulder also made it as part of the World team, perhaps the first time Warriors fans realized he was from Canada.

2022: Weird format

Jonathan Kuminga scored two points as Team Payton lost in the semifinal. It probably made Steve Kerr cut his playing time.

2024: Rising Stars

Brandin Podziemski had three points and four assists, but that wasn’t enough, even as Victor Wembanyama’s teammate, for Team Pau to get past Mac McClung and Team Detlef in the Rising Stars semifinal.

So TJD, Post, and Spencer have a lot to live up to. Jackson-Davis could thrive since most players don’t care about rebounding in these games. Points on putbacks count the same! Post could give the greatest performance by a Dutch player in a rookie-sophomore game, and also the only one. And Pat Spencer has surpassed both Marc Jackson and Mychal Mulder as the oldest Golden State Warriors ever considered a Rising Star, at age 28.

All we know is that history will be made during All-Star Weekend. Stars will rise, stars will fall. But if Spencer bounces a basketball off someone’s face, he’ll be a legend forever.