Evans and Casspi to Play in Rookie Challenge

From the Kings: Tyreke Evans and Omri Casspi have been named to the Rookie Team for next month’s All-Star festivities in Dallas.

Sacramento Kings rookies Tyreke Evans and Omri Casspi were selected to the 2010 T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam to be held on Friday, February 12 in Dallas during NBA All-Star 2010. The participants in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam were selected by the NBA’s assistant coaches, with each team submitting one ballot.

The last time a Kings player participated in the NBA All-Star Weekend was in 2004 when Brad Miller and Peja Stojakovic were members of the Western Conference All-Star team. Stojakovic also was a 3-Point Shootout participant that year, finishing second. Evans and Casspi become the seventh and eighth Kings players to play in the Rookie Challenge, joining Brian Grant and Michael Smith (1995), Tyus Edney (1996), Michael Stewart (1998), Jason Williams (2000), and Hedo Turkoglu (2002).

Really happy for Omri to get recognized by the coaches around the league here. He’s been one of the best rookies this season and while we knew that, it doesn’t necessarily mean that everybody else knew it. Now, let’s see if Omri can find his way into the Three-Point Shootout.