The NBA adopted a new All-Star Game format last year, one in which the top vote getters in each conference served as captains of teams and got to draft their rosters. It was a cool idea, but for some, there was one problem: We had no idea when the captains selected everyone to be on their teams.
The league tried to satiate the demands for those fans, and on Thursday, the captains for the 2019 All-Star Game — LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo — came together in a pre-recorded segment on TNT to make their selections. James got the first pick among the pool of starters by nature of being the league’s leading vote-getter, while Antetokounmpo got the first pick once it time to pick reserves. With the final two picks, Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade, James will get first dibs.
Here is how the entire draft went down:
Starters
- Kevin Durant
- Steph Curry
- Kyrie Irving
- Joel Embiid
- Kawhi Leonard
- Paul George
- James Harden
- Kemba Walker
Reserves
- Khris Middleton
- Anthony Davis
- Nikola Jokic
- Klay Thompson
- Ben Simmons
- Damian Lillard
- Blake Griffin
- Russell Westbrook
- D’Angelo Russell
- LaMarcus Aldridge
- Nikola Vucevic
- Karl-Anthony Towns
- Kyle Lowry
- Bradley Beal
Special Additions
- Dwyane Wade
- Dirk Nowitzki
Watching the draft go down was a blast, especially because Antetokounmpo taking his teammate No. 1 among the reserves in Middleton meant that James got to take Davis with his first reserve pick. Considering everything that went down with the Lakers pursuing the Pelicans star before the trade deadline, it made for some great TV. Because the draft happened earlier in the morning — before the Lakers were unable to trade for Davis — both Ernie Johnson and Antetokounmpo prodded James over the selection, with Antetokounmpo asking if this was tampering.
LeBron picked AD, and Giannis accused him of tampering 😂 https://t.co/KDeFLCKVwE
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) February 8, 2019
To add to the intrigue, the two captains agreed to a trade. James asked Antetokounmpo if he’d be up for a Simmons-for-Westbrook, partly because Giannis wants to pair Westbrook and Embiid together, and partly because this was LeBron’s reaction to seeing the Sixers star get picked by his fellow captain.
"You took my guy!"
Giannis takes Ben Simmons in the #NBAAllStarDraft pic.twitter.com/zxZxWtXpod
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 8, 2019
With the draft now complete, and the trade agreed to by the powers that be, the rosters for the game are as follows.
Team LeBron: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden; Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson, Damian Lillard, Ben Simmons, LaMarcus Aldridge, Karl-Anthony Towns, Bradley Beal; Dwyane Wade
Team Giannis: Gianis Antetokounmpo, Steph Curry, Joel Embiid, Paul George, Kemba Walker; Khris Middleton, Nikola Jokic, Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin, D’Angelo Russell, Nikola Vucevic, Kyle Lowry; Dirk Nowitzki
Both of these squads are tremendous, and watching them square off should be a blast. The 2019 NBA All-Star Game will take place in Charlotte on Feb. 17.
