LeBron James makes NBA All-Star team for record 20th time
LeBron James has joined yet another exclusive club, and he’ll have plenty of familiar faces alongside him at this season’s NBA All-Star Game.
James is now an All-Star — and an All-Star starter — for the 20th time, with the league unveiling the results of this season’s starter balloting on Thursday night.
James is the first 20-time All-Star in NBA history. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, whose career scoring record was broken by James last season, was a 19-time selection.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.This year’s game is on February 18 in Indianapolis.
Joining James in the Western Conference starting lineup is Phoenix’s Kevin Durant, Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Dallas’s Luka Doncic and Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the league’s leader in 30-point games this season who edged perennial All-Star starter Stephen Curry of Golden State for the final West backcourt spot.
Durant is a 14-time selection now, one of only 11 players in NBA history to be picked that many times.
In the Eastern Conference, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo will be joined by Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid - the reigning NBA MVP, two-time defending scoring champion and current NBA scoring leader - in the frontcourt. Tatum set an All-Star Game record last season, scoring 55 points in the contest at Salt Lake City on the way to MVP honours.
The East guards are Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton, who’ll be a starter on his home floor, and Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard.
Among the notables not picked as starters are Curry, Boston’s Jaylen Brown, New York’s Jalen Brunson, Atlanta’s Trae Young, Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell, Miami’s Bam Adebayo, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Anthony Davis, Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox, Phoenix’s Devin Booker, the Los Angeles Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard, Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey and Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards.
The starters are selected through a formula where fan voting counts for 50 per cent, voting by players themselves count for 25 per cent and voting by a panel of writers and broadcasters who cover the NBA count for the other 25 per cent.
The reserves, to be announced on February 1, are chosen in a vote of the league’s head coaches. Any additions to the rosters, should a player be unable to participate because of injury or another reason, will be made by Commissioner Adam Silver.
This year’s All-Star Game goes back to the traditional East vs West format, which was utilised in the first 66 NBA mid-season classics.
