The East’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum, Karl-Anthony Towns, Jalen Brunson and Donovan Mitchell, and the West’s Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James were selected as NBA All-Star starters, according to voting results announced Thursday on TNT.
James will make his record 21st consecutive start as an All-Star and Curry, the long-time face of the Golden State Warriors, is now formally serving as host for the weekend with his 11th All-Star appearance. As of now, the Knicks are the only team with two All-Stars, despite being in third place in the East.
Meanwhile, Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball didn’t make it despite being the leading vote getter from fans among Eastern guards, and in the West, second-year sensation Victor Wembanyama narrowly lost out to Durant for the third starting spot among front-court players.
The annual All-Star “event” – remember, it’s not just “one game” this season – is Feb. 16 at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
Fan voting accounted for 50 percent of the formula for choosing starters; current NBA players and a media panel accounted for 25 percent each. Ball, who is fourth in the league in scoring at 29 points per game, was ranked third in player voting and seventh by the media. Brunson, who’s averaging 26.0 points for the New York Knicks, overtook Ball through media and player votes.
All of the other players to be selected as a starter won fan votes at their respective positions. However, Wembanyama, the reigning rookie of the year who is leading the league in blocks at 4.0 per game to go with his 24.6 points and 10.8 boards, nearly overtook Durant by finishing second among media members.
Seven reserves from each conference will be chosen by the league’s head coaches and those results will be released Jan. 30. There will be great interest to see who makes it in a crowded field of talented point guards from the East. In addition to Ball, Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks will get strong consideration as the top assists man in the NBA (11.6 assists per game), as will Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons, Damian Lillard of the Milwaukee Bucks, and possibly Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers or Darius Garland of the Cavs.
Look for Cleveland’s Evan Mobley, and potentially his teammate, Jarrett Allen, to get strong consideration as reserves. Miami’s Bam Adebayo will also get a long look.
Luka Dončić of the Dallas Mavericks, a perennial MVP candidate, has played in just 22 games this season due to injury, but in those games is averaging 28.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 7.8 assists. Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards also figures to receive strong consideration as a reserve guard. The Lakers’ Anthony Davis figures to join James as an All-Star, too.
A new All-Star format
For the first time, the All-Star “game” is now a mini-tournament of three teams composed of the 24 stars and the team that wins the Rising Stars Challenge — which features the league’s top rookies and second-year players. Because of the new format, obviously, some players who were selected by coaches as All-Star “reserves” will be starters for their tournament teams.
The 24 All-Star players will go into a pool for picking by TNT’s three analysts — Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal — who are serving as honorary general managers for the three All-Star teams. They will divide the teams into three groups of eight All-Stars on Feb. 6 before TNT’s weekly doubleheader.
The new format will include three games — two semifinals and the championship — in which the winner is the team to reach 40 or more points first. There is a prize money pool of $1.8 million, with the champion team earning $125,000 per player.
Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault and Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson have clinched spots as coaches for the All-Star event, as their teams have secured first place in their respective conferences through the league’s Feb. 2 cut-off date.
One of Daigneault’s assistants will coach either the Rising Stars champion or the third All-Star team, and one of Atkinson’s assistants will coach the other. Both Daigneault and Atkinson will serve as All-Star head coaches for the first time.
Required reading
(Photo: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
