NBA All-Star Weekend is upon us, and for the first time, the NBA All-Star draft will take place right before Sunday’s game in Salt Lake City, Utah, as opposed to being taped weeks before the game.
I love this idea.
It’s like elementary school PE when two kids would switch off picking their respective teams, and each person’s pride or pain would play out in real time. Well, this is going to be an amped-up version of that with NBA-sized egos hanging in the balance.
[NBA All-Star Game 2023: Everything you need to know]
Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James will be a team captain for his sixth year in a row, ever since the league moved away from the traditional East players vs. West players format. Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo has the honor for his third time after being a team captain in 2019 and 2020. Both players led their respective conferences in All-Star votes.
James is always especially amusing in the role of GM.
One of the highlights from last year’s draft was when he selected Fred VanVleet as his second-to-last pick, purposely forcing his opposing team captain, Kevin Durant, to choose between Rudy Gobert and James Harden, Durant’s then-recently-departed teammate on the Brooklyn Nets. James cracked up as Durant picked Gobert, putting his clipboard in front of his face to shield his laughter.
It should be fun to see moments like that play out in front of the players, no?!
Here are my predictions for the weekend, from the main event on Sunday and an action-packed All-Star Saturday Night, featuring three must-watch events.
ALL-STAR GAME DRAFT
Below is the updated player pool that James and Antetokounmpo will pick from. (Durant, Steph Curry and Zion Williamson were voted to start, but will miss the game because of injuries. They will be replaced by Joel Embiid, Lauri Markkanen and Ja Morant.)
Here’s how I think the team captains will select their starters:
No. 1 pick, Team LeBron: Kyrie Irving
James made it clear that he wanted to reunite with Irving on the Lakers and acknowledged to ESPN that he was “disappointed” his former Cavs teammate was instead dealt to Dallas ahead of last week’s trade deadline. So, here’s his chance to play with him again ahead of Irving’s free agency this summer. James’ first two picks the last two All-Star Games were Antetokounmpo and Curry, both of whom are unavailable in this year’s draft, and he’s always quick with praise for Luka Doncic, but I’m betting James…
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