SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara men's basketball alum Brandin Podziemski of the Golden State Warriors has been named to the 2025 Castrol Rising Stars as part of NBA All-Star Weekend. It is the second consecutive season that Podziemski has been named to the annual showcase, which will be played on Friday, Feb. 14 at 5 p.m. PT at Chase Center. The event consists of a mini-tournament with four teams and three games, with the Castrol Rising Stars champion earning a spot to play in the 2025 NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 16, at 5 p.m. 

The Castrol Rising Stars player pool consists of 10 NBA rookies, 11 NBA sophomores and seven NBA G League players. The 21 NBA players, selected by NBA assistant coaches, were split into three seven-player teams. The seven NBA G League players, selected by the league office, comprise the fourth team. 

Podziemski was added to the roster to replace Oklahoma City's Cason Wallace, who will miss the event due to injury. The second-year guard has started 10 games with 38 total appearances in which he has averaged 9.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.0 steals in 24.7 minutes of work. Podziemski is the first Warriors player to be selected for the Rising Stars game as both a rookie and sophomore since Harrison Barnes in 2013 and 2014. 

Selected by the Warriors 19th overall in the 2023 NBA Draft, Podziemski was the WCC's Co-Player of the Year in his lone season with the Broncos in 2022-23 after averaging 19.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.8 steals per game. He won WCC Player of the Week honors a school-record four times and became Santa Clara's second top-20 draft pick in as many seasons (Jalen Williams - 12th overall to OKC in 2022).