The pool of players for the 2020 NBA All-Star Game was finalized last week, and on Thursday night, team captains Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James did a fantasy draft to create two rosters for the league's midseason showcase in Chicago.
Antetokounmpo's third pick, which was a starting lineup spot, came down to Houston Rockets guard James Harden and Boston Celtics guard Kemba Walker. The Milwaukee Bucks superstar eventually settled on Walker, and he had a hilarious reason for why.
LIVE stream the Celtics all season and get the latest news and analysis on all of your teams from NBC Sports Boston by downloading the My Teams App.
Antetokounmpo does make a good point.
While Harden is capable of racking up assists, he's definitely a shoot-first player, but in fairness, he's won an MVP playing that kind of style. Walker is a really impressive scorer, but he's also a willing playmaker, and anyone who's watched the Celtics this season knows that the veteran guard has no problem feeding his teammates the ball when they're in a groove. Walker's style would be more fun to play with in an All-Star Game setting.
Antetokounmpo made the right choice between Walker and Harden, but plenty of his other picks deserve criticism. If you look at how the two rosters turned out, a strong argument can be made that James has the better overall team.
The 2020 NBA All-Star Game will be played Sunday, Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. ET on TNT.
Winners and losers of the NBA trade deadline
Boston Celtics
Don't miss NBC Sports Boston's coverage of Hawks-Celtics, which begins Friday at 6:30 p.m. with Celtics Pregame Live followed by tip-off at 7:30 p.m. You can also stream the game on the MyTeams App.