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Tim Bontemps
multiple authors
New York–for the 22nd consecutive year, Lebron James Is an all-star.
The NBA announced its reserves for James and his debut on NBC on Sunday night for the Feb. 15 midseason showcase. Los Angeles Lakers faced with new York Knicks At Madison Square Garden. Voting was conducted by the league’s coaches last week.
James, 41, was the last player to be announced as the league’s oldest player. Records of both overall and consecutive selections From the second season.
“Very humbled,” James said Sunday night after the Lakers lost to the Knicks. 112-100. “The coaches voted, OK, I have a lot of respect for the coaches and them seeing the way I’m still playing at this late stage of my career.
“And to be able to be an All-Star means a lot to my family, the people who are following my career, my LeBron loyalists. They’re following my journey and being able to be rewarded for all the work you do is always rewarding from a humble standpoint.”
James did not play in last season’s All-Star event due to injury.
“You think about a star player, his prime is his All-NBA, All-Star year,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “And you know, he’s basically had a tenure of 20-plus years. It’s kind of unheard of. It’s unheard of, unknown, whatever you want to call it. I mean, it’s incredible. It’s a testament to the work he’s done.”
James was joined on the court Sunday by three other All-Stars: starters luka doncic And Jalen Brunsonand partner reserve selection carl-anthony town.
“Of course he deserves it,” teammate Doncic said of James. “He’s still playing at the top level at this age. It’s incredible to share the stage with him.”
The reserve named with James was led by Houston Rockets Ahead Kevin DurantWhose 16th All-Star selection is the fourth-most all-time – tying him with Hall of Famers Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett and placing him behind only Kobe Bryant (18), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (19) and James Garnett (19).
The addition of James and Durant as Western Conference reserve selections marks the first time a trio of participants have joined the team – denver nuggets guard jamal mare, oklahoma city thunder Ahead Chet Holmgren And portland trail blazers Ahead deni avdija — plus minnesota timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (fourth) and phoenix sun guard Devin Booker (Fifth).
“Multiple 50-point games, multiple 50-point games in the playoffs, let’s see, triple-double in the Finals, NBA champion, most wins in the West over the last 10 years, he’s the point guard on that team… In my mind, all of those things make sense, except for the thing that was missing,” Nuggets coach David Edelman said of Murray.
In the Eastern Conference, Towns – making his sixth All-Star team – joined cleveland cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (seventh), Indiana Pacers Ahead pascal siakam (fourth), Toronto Raptors Ahead Scotty Barnes (Second) and a trio of first-time picks: detroit pistons Center Jalen Duren, Miami Heat guard norman powell And atlanta hawks Ahead jalen johnson.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Powell, “I believe he deserves it and I think probably one of the best compliments you can give him is the fact that he has played in all roles in his career and he continues to get better.” “He is now having his best years since turning 30.”
Below NBA’s latest format change For the event – US vs. the World – the 24 All-Star participants will be divided into three eight-player rosters – two featuring Americans, the third featuring international players. They will play two games of 12 minutes each, with the two teams with the best records – or the two teams with the best point differential, if they are all tied 1–1 – facing each other in the championship game.
All-Star Game will be here LA Clippers‘ Arena (Intuit Dome), in Inglewood, California. The Clippers were notably absent from Sunday’s announcement; despite this Going 16-4 in their last 20 games To partially offset the poor start to the season, the team did not select any of its players for this year’s event.
either clippers star kawhi leonard – who has led the league in scoring and steals since December 20 – or the Rockets’ center alperen sengun is probably the best candidate to replace milwaukee‘S giannis antetokounmpoJoe will sit out the game due to a calf injury. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will select a replacement for Antetokounmpo, as well as any additional players if needed.
other players Selected as starter last month Were: boston‘S jaylen brownof detroit Cade Cunningham, philadelphia‘S tyreese maxi, golden state‘S Stephen Curryof oklahoma city Shai Gilgeous-Alexanderof denver Nikola Jokic And San Antonio‘S Victor Wembanyama.
Detroit’s JB Bickerstaff will Become the coach of one of the all-star teams. Either San Antonio’s Mitch Johnson or Edelman will coach the other — to be decided by the results of Sunday’s games — and the NBA has not announced how the third team’s coach will be decided.
Bickerstaff earned his nod because the Pistons lead the Eastern Conference. Johnson or Edelman will advance with the best record in the Western Conference among eligible coaches; Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault coaches the team with the West’s best record, but he cannot coach in the All-Star Game this year because he coached in the event last season.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
