LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo remain the kings of the mountain — on top of the standings and on top of the popularity contest that is NBA All-Star voting.
But the game’s young stars — Luka Doncic and Trae Young, in particular — are climbing fast. Both of them came in second in the fan vote.
The NBA has announced the starters for the 2020 All-Star Game and it features a mixture of the expected veterans and some new faces.
The captains are LeBron and Antetokounmpo for the second consecutive year. Next week the All-Star Game reserves will be chosen, then in two weeks the captains will pick their teams. (If you want to know who myself and Dan Feldman of NBC Sports think should be the reserves — and the starters, because we had different choices for the East — check out the latest PBT Podcast where we get into the ASG rosters, as well as Zion Williamson’s debut.)
The All-Star Game format remains the same as it was the last couple of seasons: The two captains — LeBron and Antetokounmpo — will select their teams playground-style live on a TNT special NBA All-Star Draft Show Feb. 6 (a week before the game). First, they will choose from the pool of starters (listed below) then from the pool of 14 reserves (seven reserves from each conference, selected by the coaches and announced next week).
Here are your All-Star starters, chosen by a combination of fan votes (50 percent of the total), media votes (25 percent) and player votes (25 percent).
WEST
Guard: Luka Doncic (Dallas)
Guard: James Harden (Houston)
Frontcourt: LeBron James (L.A. Lakers)
Frontcourt: Anthony Davis (L.A. Lakers)
Frontcourt: Kawhi Leonard (L.A. Clippers)
EAST
Guard: Trae Young (Atlanta)
Guard: Kemba Walker (Boston)
Frontcourt: Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee)
Frontcourt: Pascal Siakam (Toronto)
Frontcourt: Joel Embiid (Philadelphia)
A few notes on these selections:
• The fans voted Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving second among East guards, but he finished sixth in both the media and player ballots, and that dropped him out of a starting spot.
• Jimmy Butler was fourth in the fan vote for the frontcourt and third in the media vote, but was not in the top five of the player vote and so he fell behind Siakam for the chance to start.
• LeBron got the most votes of any player, the seventh time he has had that happened.
• When LeBron steps on the court in Chicago it will be his 16th time as an All-Star starter, passing Kobe Bryant for the most in league history.
• Team LeBron is 2-0 in this pick-your-team format and he will be looking to keep a perfect record.
• Doncic and Young give the game two 21-and-under starters. The last time that happened? Back in 1998 with Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett.
• Damian Lillard was third in guard voting among the fans, players, and media.
• Paul George and Nikola Jokic were fourth and fifth among fan and player votes (they flip-flopped positions), but the media had Jokic fourth and Rudy Gobert fifth.
• Here are the voting results in more detail.
