The Los Angeles Lakers will be well represented during NBA All-Star Weekend in Chicago.
The Los Angeles Lakers are having a great season. They currently lead the Western Conference by 4.5 games with a 36-9 record. The only team in the league with a better record than the Lakers is the Milwaukee Bucks, who is leading the NBA with a 39-6 record.
With both teams playing so well, it should come as no surprise that they are both going to be well represented at the 2020 NBA All-Star Weekend. This year’s festivities will be held in Chicago, and both the Lakers and Bucks will be prominent throughout the weekend.
While all of the participants in the events have yet to be announced, the Lakers already know they will have a representative nearly every day.
It became official that Dwight Howard will take part in the AT&T Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday night. He is the only participant that has been confirmed.
Don’t miss Dwight Howard’s return to the #ATTSlamDunk Contest at NBA All-Star 2020 in Chicago on February 15th on TNT! pic.twitter.com/Aqg2TbwVrY
— NBA (@NBA) January 21, 2020
In addition to Howard, the Lakers also know that LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Frank Vogel and the coaching staff will be taking part in the weekend as well.
James was announced as the captain of one All-Star team, with Giannis Antetonoukmpo captaining the other. It is the second consecutive year that they will be the captains of the team.
Joining James as the Western Conference starters pool are Lakers’ teammate Anthony Davis, James Harden of the Houston Rockets, Kawhi Leonard of the LA Clippers and Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks.
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Representing the Eastern Conference in the starter’s pool along with the Greek Freak is Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers, Kemba Walker of the Boston Celtics, Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks and Pascal Siakam of the Toronto Raptors.
James and Antetokounmpo will once again draft rosters from the players that are selected to the All-Star game as starters and reserves. Vogel will coach Team LeBron, while the Team Giannis coach has not yet been figured out.
Bucks’ head coach Mike Budenholzer cannot do it as he was the coach for the team last year. Whichever team has the best record in the Eastern Conference, excluding the Bucks, will have their coaching staff lead Team Giannis.
LeBron led all players in voting this year, giving him 16 appearances in the All-Star game. He has the third-most selections all-time , breaking a tie with Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett and trailing only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who has 19 selections, and Kobe Bryant, who has 18.
James, if he is able to play in next month’s game, will trail only Abdul-Jabbar’s 18 appearances in the game, as Bryant missed three games because of injury.
James was excited about how well represented the Lakers are going to be, and believe the fans should also.
"“When you have something like this, the byproduct, we should all be proud of it,” James said. “Laker faithful should be proud to have two All-Stars in the game, another guy in the dunk contest on Saturday and the coaching staff coaching the game on Sunday. So it’s pretty, pretty, pretty cool.”"
The All-Star festivities will take place from Feb. 14-16 in Chicago at the United Center. The Celebrity and Rising Star games will take place Friday night. Then, the State Farm All-Star Saturday Night and then the 69th All-Star Game Sunday night.