The man with a lot of Nuggets news, Shams Charania of Real GM, tweeted that Nurkic will not play in the Rising Stars Challenge over All Star weekend. Nurkic was added to the team as an injury replacement for Thunder center Steven Adams. On a recent broadcast, Scott Hastings and Chris Marlowe of Altitude TV said that Nurkic had made plans to go home to Bosnia over the All Star break. While Nurkic's family visited him recently state-side, Juka has not been home since coming to the United States. I've only lived outside of Colorado for a year, I was only four hours away, but I still got home sick. I initially wanted Juka to be a part of the rookie vs sophomore game (this year it will be the US vs the World), but after he was left off - I have no bones with him choosing to keep his plans to go home. It'll be good for the rookie to regroup and see familiar faces and places back home. Good for Juka.