Chicago Bulls: Coby White should be in Rising Stars Challenge

The Rising Stars Challenge will be without any player representing from the Chicago Bulls this year, as are most events during All-Star Weekend.

Since the Chicago Bulls have so little representation for all the festivities in All-Star Weekend 2020, hosting it at the United Center won’t mean quite as much to this fan base. There is one participant from this team in All-Star Weekend, with shooting guard Zach LaVine taking part in the three-point shootout. But LaVine didn’t get a nod as a reserve for the All-Star Game and he didn’t decide to participate in the Slam Dunk Contest (which would definitely be his best and most exciting event).

The Bulls were set to have one player competing in the Rising Stars Challenge in the 2020 All-Star Weekend, second-year center Wendell Carter Jr., but he is still dealing with an ankle sprain he suffered last month. Last year, they had power forward Lauri Markkanen representing them with the World team in the Rising Stars Challenge.

Despite John Paxson and Gar Forman trying to piece together a solid young core in the third year of this Bulls rebuild, there isn’t anyone from this roster in the main event that could highlight their supposedly bright future.

You can view the rosters for the Rising Stars Challenge for both teams, thanks to NBA.com here.

The United States roster for the Rising Stars Challenge is void of one notable name for the Bulls that should be competing even if just to please the fans in the Windy City. Former North Carolina Tar Heels 6-foot-5 rookie point guard Coby White is putting up decent per game numbers this season, even if his efficiency is still a work in progress.

So far this season, White is averaging 11.1 points per game, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.4 assists, while shooting 37 percent from the field and about 34 percent from beyond the arc. He’s scoring enough for a player that would usually get named to one of the rosters for the Rising Stars Challenge.

Some of the other names on the rosters for this event aren’t too notable either.

Even the Cleveland Cavaliers second-year point guard Collin Sexton got into the event over the injured Tyler Herro on the US team over White. P.J. Washington and Miles Bridges of the Charlotte Hornets got in the event. The Bulls are in better positioning in the Eastern Conference standings than the Hornets right now, and that makes three players from Charlotte that are on the US roster.

White might be the obvious nod for the Rising Stars Challenge on the US roster if anyone else drops out of the event or can’t play due to injury or other extenuating circumstances. But the Rising Stars Challenge is less than 48 hours away from tipping off, so the chances of that happening look very slim.