LeBron James was selected for his record-tying 20th consecutive start in an NBA All-Star Game, while hometown hero Tyrese Haliburton was selected for his first start.
According to voting results released Thursday night on TNT for the NBA Classic on Feb. 18 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Haliburton will represent the Pacers on their home court as the starting point guard for the East. He will be joined by fellow Milwaukee guard Damian Lillard, Philadelphia center and reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid, Milwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo – the overall leading voter among fans – and Boston forward Jayson Tatum.
James will be joined in the West by Dallas guard Luka Dončić, Oklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Denver center and reigning NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokic and Phoenix forward Kevin Durant – a 13-time All-Star was not in February Playing in the actual game completely healthy since 2019.
James, 39, the Lakers' star forward, the NBA's all-time leading scorer and the West's top vote-getter, started every All-Star Game since 2005 and broke his tie with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the previous All-Star record – Star selection.
As with Haliburton, this will be Gilgeous-Alexander's first start and second All-Star appearance. Both Haliburton and James are out for their respective teams with nagging leg injuries, but will hopefully be healthy enough to take the floor at the All-Star Game.
The fan vote made up 50 percent of the starter selection; The votes of the players and the media each made up 25 percent. The seven reserve players for each conference, announced on February 1, will be selected by NBA head coaches.
There were really only two close calls, the second guard in each conference.
In the East, the Hawks' Trae Young topped all other guards in fan voting, while the Knicks' Jalen Brunson was selected by the media to start and the 76ers' Tyrese Maxey was selected by the players. The highest-scoring Lillard in a vote was third (fans) and tied with Brunson in total points – making his 8th All-Star Game on a tiebreaker (more fan votes than Brunson).
In the West, fans chose Stephen Curry, the greatest Warriors player of all time, over Gilgeous-Alexander, but the Canadian was the top vote-getter among media and players.
Curry is currently a nine-time All-Star and of the eight All-Star games he has played in (he was injured last year), he started in all eight. Entering Thursday, he was averaging 26.7 points and shooting 40.1 percent from 3-point range (he also leads the league with 172 3s), but the Warriors are currently struggling the combination of stats and wins from Gilgeous-Alexander and Dončić was too much for Curry to overcome.
The 73rd edition of the NBA's All-Star Game will return to the old format – most recently seen at the 2017 All-Star Game in New Orleans – with players playing for the East and West conferences rather than the playground-style play by the players to be selected top vote-getters of each conference.
In addition, the game will consist of four 12-minute quarters like a regular game, instead of the “Elam” scoring model that has been in place since then, in which each team sets a target score in an untimed fourth quarter to determine the winner Game 2020 in Chicago.
Captains still exist, and again they are based on the total number of votes in each conference, so James will be serving as captain for the seventh time in his career, seventh straight year overall and sixth straight year outside the West. Antetokounmpo will be captain for the third time.
The complete Western Conference voting breakdown. (Photo via NBA)
Additionally, in keeping with recent traditions, the team with the highest score in each quarter will win money for their captain's charity.
The changes to the All-Star Game over the years were implemented to create a competitive advantage and entertainment that the league (as well as fans and media) had felt was lost. After initial success – the 2020 and 2022 All-Star Games were better under the “Elam” points model – last year's competition in Salt Lake City was such a dud that the league decided to revert to its old model. With one caveat.
Just play harder.
“All-Star Weekend has turned into an incredible weekend, and it is,” NBA vice president Joe Dumars said in October. “But at the end of All-Star weekend, the game can’t be an afterthought where the guys don’t play (hard). We talked to the players about how they put on a great show last night, Sunday night, how they actually went out and competed.
Haliburton, who is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury, has averaged 23.6 points and a league-high 12.6 assists in 34 games this season. Last month, Haliburton joined Hall of Famers Magic Johnson and John Stockton as the third player in NBA history to record consecutive 20-point, 20-assist games.
“When you're 23, 24 years old, you want to keep pushing yourself to a higher level, pushing yourself to a higher level of play on the field,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said of Haliburton, who is 23 and most recently for USA Basketball played summer. “These things lead to greater honors and prestige, but it never ends. You can never exhale with things like this. …You can't look at it that way, and I don't think Tyrese sees it that way. I think he has a lot more to do when it comes to his commitment to the organization, the city and what he wants to contribute to the success of this team.”
James, out with an ankle injury, is collecting records right and left as the “oldest player of all time.” He is currently averaging 24.8 points per game, which would be his lowest scoring average since his rookie year. But James, who turned 39 in December, still averages 7.4 assists and 7.2 boards. On the Lakers, he ranks second in scoring behind Anthony Davis, who is coming off an outstanding individual season (25.1 points per game, 12.2 rebounds per game) and virtually a lock for selection as an All-Star reserve is.
Embiid leads the NBA with an incredible 36.1 points per game, followed by Dončić (33.6 ppg), Antetokounmpo (31.3 ppg) and Gilgeous-Alexander (31.1 ppg). Gilgeous-Alexander leads the league with 32 games with 30 or more points.
Embiid has now been an All-Star seven times. Jokic has done it six times and Dončić and Tatum are now five-time All-Stars.
Required reading
(Photo: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)