LATEST NEWS: Making history with his 20th All-Star selection…

LATEST NEWS: Making history with his 20th All-Star selection…

Following the league’s announcement of the 10 starters for the All-Star Game in Indianapolis next month, LeBron James was designated as a starter for the Western Conference All-Stars on Thursday night, making him the first player in history to be named to 20 All-Star teams.

Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Denver Nuggets centre Nikola Jokic, Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant, and Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic completed the Western Conference starting five for James, who with the selection passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most All-Star invitations in NBA history.

Along with Philadelphia 76ers centre Joel Embiid, Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, and Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard, the Eastern Conference’s top vote-getter was Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks.

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For Gilgeous-Alexander and Haliburton, who are playing for the host Pacers, it marks their first All-Star selection and second overall.

With an average of 24.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 7.4 assists for the Los Angeles Lakers in his 21st NBA season, James is continuing to defy ageing. A little less than a year after breaking Abdul-Jabbar’s supposedly unbreakable all-time scoring record, James smashes the mark for an All-Star.

Durant will be making his 14th All-Star appearance; Antetokounmpo and Lillard will be making their eighth; Embiid will be making her seventh; Jokic will be making her sixth; and Doncic and Tatum will be making their fifth.

Actually, there wasn’t much drama in either conference’s voting. Week to week, the fan vote totals remained mostly same, with Antetokounmpo, Embiid, and Tatum comfortably leading the Eastern Conference frontcourt players; Haliburton dominating the East guard field; and James, Jokic, and Durant leading the West frontcourt pack.

There was only two places with drama: the second guard spot in the East, where fans had been voting between Trae Young and Lillard for the past few weeks; and the three guard spots in the West, where Stephen Curry, Doncic, and Gilgeous-Alexander were all closely grouped throughout the three voting rounds.

However, Doncic and Gilgeous-Alexander ultimately emerged victorious for the two starting positions in the West, taking first and second place in the player and media voting, respectively, to eliminate Curry. In the meanwhile, Lillard secured the starting position beside Haliburton in the East by finishing far ahead of Jalen Brunson in fan vote.

The decision of who will coach both teams will probably come down to the rankings on February 4, even if there wasn’t much drama around who would start for each club. That day’s results will determine who will be coaching in Indianapolis. Coaches cannot be chosen twice in a row, therefore Joe Mazzulla of the Celtics and Michael Malone of the Nuggets, the picks from the previous year, are not eligible. The Minnesota Timberwolves, Thunder, and LA Clippers are the three teams in the West that are within one game of one another in the loss column, while the Bucks and 76ers are knotted in the East.

Specifically, the Bucks would present a special case, with Doc Rivers replacing the dismissed Adrian Gryphon this week. The same thing happened in 2016, when Tyronn Lue, the current coach of the Clippers, coached the All-Star Game following another midseason coaching shift that included David Blatt’s replacement.

Despite the fact that Durant and Williamson ended up missing the game due to injury, the Eastern Conference’s voted-in starters from the previous season were Antetokounmpo, Tatum, Durant, Donovan Mitchell, and Kyrie Irving; the Western Conference’s starters were James, Jokic, Doncic, Curry, and Zion Williamson.

After announcing earlier this year that it would do away with the captains concept, which saw the top vote-getter in each conference select their respective teams, the NBA will return to its regular All-Star structure for the game on February 18. East vs West will once again be the format.

Next Thursday, TNT will reveal the reserve picks from each conference, which the NBA’s head coaches will vote on.