LeBron James selected Kyrie Irving and Giannis Antetokounmpo landed Ja Morant for their respective lineups on Sunday ahead of the tipoff at the 72nd NBA All-Star Game.
Antetokounmpo actually selected Morant twice before getting it right as, for the first time in the history of the annual showdown of elite talent, captains picked their rosters from available players only minutes before the start.
That left no time to prepare teamwork for a game that’s typically a high-scoring, dunk-filled affair.
James is 5-0 as an All-Star captain since the format began in 2018, winning twice over Kevin Durant, twice over Antetokounmpo and once over Stephen Curry.
Miluwakee big man Antetokounmpo from Greece and Los Angeles Lakers playmaker James, who earlier this month became the NBA’s all-time scoring leader, were named captains after being the top vote-getters for All-Star starting spots from the Eastern and Western Conferences.
But they could select players from any squads from the pools of reserve and starting candidates.
Altered affiliations were not a problem even though Phoenix’s Kevin Durant and Irving of Dallas were both set into All-Star spots before being traded from Brooklyn.
Durant, Golden State’s Curry and Zion Williamson of New Orleans were sidelined by injuries and replaced in the starters pool by Morant of Memphis, Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Utah’s Lauri Markkanen.
James had the first pick of starters and grabbed Cameroonian big man Embiid while Antetokounmpo’s first pick was Boston’s Jayson Tatum.
James next selected Irving, his former teammate on an NBA championship team in Cleveland, and Antetokounmpo then grabbed Morant, whom he had tried to pick from among reserves only to learn he couldn’t grab him then.
Dallas star Luka Doncic of Slovenia went to James and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell then went to Antetokounmpo.
Two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic, a Serbian center, was the last pick by James and Finland’s Markkanen was the final player taken overall.
Antetokounmpo had the first pick among reserves and grabbed Portland’s Damian Lillard and James followed by taking Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards, allowing Antetokounmpo to then select his Milwaukee teammate Jrue Holiday.
Antetokounmpo also added Cameroon’s Pascal Siakam of Toronto, Canadian guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Oklahoma City, Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan, Miami’s Bam Adebayo and Lithuanian Domantas Sabonis of Sacramento, the NBA rebounds leader.
James, who said he wanted “youth, athleticism and shotmaking,” also selected Boston’s Jaylen Brown, Los Angeles Clippers forward Paul George, New York forward Julius Randle, Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox, Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton and Memphis forward Jaren Jackson Jr.
