LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo select All-Star team rosters

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images
Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo, the All-Star captains, drafted their respective rosters on Thursday night for this year’s game.

LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo were once again the highest vote-getters in their respective conferences, meaning they would be team captains for the 2020 NBA All-Star Game in Chicago.

The 2018 All-Star Game was the first one that the draft took place. LeBron James has represented his conference each year, while Stephen Curry represented the Golden State Warriors and Western Conference in 2018. Antetokounmpo was captain for the Eastern Conference last year as well.

After learning who the starters and reserves would be in the last few weeks, we have learned who the participants would be, but now we know who will be playing for each team.

In an odd twist, the starting lineups weren’t shaken up at all. The representatives for the Eastern Conference and Western Conference were both picked to play for their respective conferences.

Joining James in the starting lineup for the Western Conference is his Los Angeles Lakers’ teammate Anthony Davis, who was the first overall pick, Kawhi Leonard of the LA Clippers, Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks and James Harden of the Houston Rockets.

Representing the Eastern Conference along with Antetokounmpo is Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers, Pascal Siakam of the Toronto Raptors, Kemba Walker of the Boston Celtics and Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks.

The players remaining with their respective conferences lasted until James selected Ben Simmons of the 76ers with his second pick among the reserves. His first reserves selection was Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers. Following Simmons was Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, Jayson Tatum of the Celtics, Chris Paul of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Russell Westbrook of the Rockets and Domantas Sabonis of the Indiana Pacers.

More from Lake Show Life

Antetokounmpo selected his Bucks’ teammate, Khris Middleton, with the first selection among the reserves. Following him, he selected Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat, Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz, Jimmy Butler of the Heat, Kyle Lowry of the Raptors, Brandon Ingram of the New Orleans Pelicans and Donovan Mitchell of the Jazz.

The teams will honor Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, by wearing No. 2 and No. 24. Team LeBron will be wearing No. 2 and Team Giannis will be wearing No. 24. The format of the game has also changed.

Essentially, every quarter is a game in itself. Whoever wins each quarter will win money for a charity of the captain’s choice. Each quarter the score till reset to 0-0, except for the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter will be untimed and start with the combined scores of the first, second and third quarters. A target score will be set at that point. The target score will be the leading team’s point total from the first three quarters added up plus 24, another tribute to Kobe.

It is an interesting wrinkle for the All-Star game, as we have seen this type of target totals done in The Basketball Tournament, where it is known as Elam Ending.