LeBron, Durant named NBA All-Star captains

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  • 2021-02-19 HKT 08:39″ title=”LeBron James (R) and Kevin Durant will captain their respective teams at the NBA All-Star Game, unlike in 2018, when they were teammates at the annual event. File photo: AFP”>


    LeBron James (R) and Kevin Durant will captain their respective teams at the NBA All-Star Game, unlike in 2018, when they were teammates at the annual event. File photo: AFP
    LeBron James (R) and Kevin Durant will captain their respective teams at the NBA All-Star Game, unlike in 2018, when they were teammates at the annual event. File photo: AFP

The voters have spoken: They wanted LeBron James of the reigning champion Los Angeles Lakers to be an NBA All-Star captain, again.

So, he is. And Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant will be his opposition.

James and Durant were revealed as the leading fan votegetters in the Western and Eastern Conferences for the game, meaning they’ll be captains for the matchup in Atlanta on March 7.

The Laker forward will start for the 17th time, extending his record, and Durant is an All-Star for the 11th time.

Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (19) and Kobe Bryant (18) have more total All-Star selections than James.

The other starters from the West are Denver’s Nikola Jokic and the Los Angeles Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard, Golden State’s Stephen Curry and Dallas’ Luka Doncic.

Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid are alongside Durant as the East frontcourt starters, while Washington’s Bradley Beal and Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving are the East starting guards.

Doncic and Portland’s Damian Lillard were tied in the NBA’s weighted system for the second West guard spot; Doncic got the nod because he got more fan votes.

Fan votes counted for 50% of the starter selection process; player votes counted as 25% of the total, and votes from a media panel made up the other 25%.

The decision to hold the All-Star Game came despite an outcry from star players led by James himself.

“NBA All-Star in Atlanta will continue our annual tradition of celebrating the game and the greatest players in the world before a global audience,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said.

It comes during a mid-season break that originally was meant to give every player a rest after more than a month was shaved off the usual off-season gap as Covid-19 delayed the finish of the 2019-20 NBA playoffs.

James and other players have been scathing about the decision to go ahead with the game in recent weeks, with the Los Angeles Lakers star describing it as a “slap in the face.”

Silver told ESPN that he understands the complaints but called it “the right thing to do” to play the game. (AP, AFP)