After a wild NBA trade deadline day, there was still an NBA transaction yet to happen on Thursday night as LeBron James and Kevin Durant needed to draft their All-Star squads.
The festivities got started with Kevin Durant addressing the James Harden trade, as they recorded the draft right after that news broke. Durant was drafting for a team he wouldn’t play on, and LeBron took advantage of his fifth year as a captain (4-0) to use some savvy in his draft strategy and steal some advantages. After Durant took Joel Embiid with his first pick, LeBron left Jokic for his final pick knowing KD wasn’t likely to select two centers, and then later left James Harden on the board the entire reserve selection, knowing Durant wouldn’t want to pick him after he just forced his way out of Brooklyn, leading to some hilarity on the TNT set.
It was the most entertaining All-Star Draft yet, and while both sides are stacked with talent as one would expect with an All-Star Game, you’d be hard pressed to find many that wouldn’t name Team LeBron as a favorite for the Feb. 20 exhibition in Cleveland.
TEAM DURANT
Joel Embiid
Ja Morant
Jayson Tatum
Andrew Wiggins
Trae Young
Devin Booker
Karl-Anthony Towns
Zach LaVine
Dejounte Murray
Khris Middleton
LaMelo Ball
Rudy Gobert
TEAM LEBRON
LeBron James
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Stephen Curry
DeMar DeRozan
Nikola Jokic
Jimmy Butler
Luka Doncic
Darius Garland
Chris Paul
Donovan Mitchell
Fred VanVleet
James Harden
