LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks) are again captains in the NBA All-Star Game. Both players were again voted the most by the public in the Western and Eastern Conferences, respectively. This year they cannot freely choose their teammates from the selected teams, but the classic confrontation between players from the Western and Eastern Conference returns. Since 2018, both conferences have not competed against each other in the game, but rather the captains have formed their team from those chosen.
The match initially features two quintets who sound unbeatable. In the West, alongside LeBron James, Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks), Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets), Kevin Durant (Phoenix Suns) and Shai Gilgeous Alexander will be in the starting lineup, the big news. Durant was selected in the East last year. Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors) and Zion Williamson (New Orleans Pelicans) are left out.
Captain Antetokounmpo will be joined on the East side by Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics), Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers), Tyrese Haliburton (Indiana Pacers) and Damian Lillard (Milwaukee Bucks). These final three are new, leaving out starting quintets Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Kyrie Irving, who now plays in the West.
The ten starters – two outside players and three inside players, although the distinction is very relative – were selected by a combination of fans (50% of the vote), current players (25%) and the media (25%).
The replacement players will be announced on February 1st. In this case, it is the coaches of the 30 NBA teams who select the 14 reserve players and vote for two outside players, three inside players and two additional players at any position in their respective conferences.
For LeBron James, it is his 20th All-Star selection. He surpasses Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was selected 19 times between 1979 and 1989, although James beat him last year as the most All Star player, as the legendary center missed the 1973 game after being selected. The Lakers star repeats as captain for the seventh consecutive time, although in the last six years he has led not the Western Conference, but his team, Tean LeBron. His team won the first five games in this format, but last year they were defeated. Antetokounmpo, who was captain in 2019 and 2020, took over for Kevin Durant in the East in 2022 and is now reprising his position.
The 2024 All Star Game will be played on February 18 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The NBA All-Star Game was first played in the 1950-51 season and has been an annual showcase of the league's best talent ever since.
Many of the greatest NBA players of all time have taken home the All-Star Game MVP trophy. Jayson Tatum was the last to win it last year, with a record 55 points in a game he took very seriously after the disappointment in the three-point contest. He managed for the first time to defeat Team LeBron, which had won the five previous editions using this format where captains select their teammates.
All-Star Weekend will again feature three-point and dunk contests, as well as a youth game involving rookies and sophomores unless someone is directly selected for the main game.
The big surprise of the 2023 Dunk Contest was Mac McClung, who stole the show with a perfect score on three of his four attempts. After shining in high school and excelling in college, McClung failed to break into the basketball elite. He was playing for the Delaware Blue Coats, the NBA's second-tier G League, last year when he received an invitation to take part in the dunk contest. His four attempts were more than the baskets he had made in the NBA up to that point. Damian Lillard, then of the Portland Trail Blazers and now of the Milwaukee Bucks, won the three-point contest. The 2024 competitions will take place on Saturday, February 17th. The names of the participants will be announced as the weekend approaches.
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