boston – LeBron James And Giannis Antikonmo The captains of the two teams that will compete in the 2023 NBA All-Star Game next month in Salt Lake City have been named.
James Relations Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — who is about to pass him as the all-time scoring leader — in most All-Star games with 19. James has now been captain in each of the six years the NBA has used the two league leaders format. individual teams. the Los Angeles Lakers Star averages 29.9 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 7.0 assists in his 38-year-old NBA season.
Antetokounmpo will be captain for the third time in his career, having done so in 2019 and 2020, and he will be an All-Star for the seventh consecutive season. the Milwaukee Bucks Star averages 31 points, 12 rebounds and 5.3 assists this season for the Bucks, who go into Thursday half a game behind Philadelphia Seventy Sixers For second place in the Eastern Conference.
Joining James among the selected starters from the Western Conference are New Orleans Pelicans straight ahead Zion WilliamsonAnd Denver Nuggets Center Nikola JokicAnd Golden State Warriors Protect Stephen Curry And Dallas Mavericks Protect Luka Doncic.
Other oriental appetizers besides Antetokounmpo are Brooklyn Networks straight ahead Kevin Durant and his teammate Kyrie IrvingAnd Boston Celtics straight ahead Jason Tatum And Cleveland Cavaliers Protect Donovan Mitchell.
Appetizers are selected by a weighted voting process which was derived from fan voting making up 50% of the final score, with both the player and media portions of the vote accounting for 25%.
Philadelphia Seventy Sixers Center Joel Embiid Just missed the cut after being third among eastern frontcourt players in the player and media rankings but fourth in the Fan vote. Embiid received 4,900,482 fan votes to Tatum’s 5,221,720 votes.
Lakers forward Anthony Davis He finished third among West frontcourt players in fan voting but placed seventh and sixth in the player and media rankings respectively.
I identified three junior voting groups:
• Fans (50%)
• NBA players (25%)
Media panel 25%)Full voting results here: https://t.co/M8btg7M0GP
Below are the aggregate scores of the top finishers for each position. pic.twitter.com/HQ9W20Z6Ke
– NBA Communications (NBAPR) January 27, 2023
Jokic, a two-time MVP, is having another stellar season, averaging 25.1 points, 11 rebounds and 9.9 assists while shooting 62% for the leading Western Nuggets, and will play in his fifth consecutive All-Star Game. . Williamson, making his second All-Star Game appearance, scored 26 points, 7 rebounds and 4.6 assists in 29 games but has been out since January 2 with a hamstring injury.
Curry is now a nine-time All-Star, having recovered from a shoulder injury that cost him a few weeks of the season. He averages 29.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 6.2 assists. Doncic, who leads the NBA in scoring with 33.8 points per game along with 9.1 rebounds and 8.6 assists, was selected for the fourth consecutive time.
Durant, a 13th-time All-Star, may miss the game for the third consecutive season due to injury, after suffering a sprained MCL on January 8. The last time Durant played in an All-Star Game was in 2019, when he was named its Most Valuable Player. But he missed the entire 2019-20 season due to rehab from surgery on a ruptured Achilles tendon, and then was unable to play each of the last two seasons – both times he was named captain – due to injuries he sustained. In the weeks leading up to the start of the match.
“I was like, ‘S—, another year of not playing against my old teammates. Another year, at that point, I might miss the All-Star Game and not play against LeBron James at home,'” Durant said. Earlier this week, when asked about his frustration at missing another part of the season due to injuries. “Things like that I look forward to. … On top of playing every game, I look forward to these things. But it’s part of basketball, too.”
Meanwhile, Irving is now an eight-time All-Star after averaging 26.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.2 assists for the net so far this season — one that included being suspended by the team for several games for his “failure to disavow anti-Semitism.” His tweet promoting a movie contains antisemitic tropes.
Now playing in his fourth All-Star Game—his first as an elected freshman, after serving as a fill-in last season for Durant—the league-leading Celtics, Tatum averaged 31 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 4.4 assists. Mitchell will also make his first start and will do so in the city he has called home for the past five years.
Mitchell, making his fourth consecutive All-Star Game appearance, had a stellar season in his first campaign with the Cleveland Cavaliers after a successful trade to Northeast Ohio in September. He averaged 28.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists for a Cleveland team hoping to make the playoffs for the first time without LeBron James on the roster in 30 years.
“I’m definitely lucky and honored to be a part of this,” Mitchell told TNT in a video interview shortly after the announcement. “And you know you always have a chip on your shoulder, especially when you’re being traded and you’re in a position [in Cleveland] Where…these guys believe in me, and these guys trust me to go out there and do what I’m doing. And I wouldn’t be here without my teammates, my coach.”
The seven All-Star reserves from each conference, which are voted on by the coaches in each conference, will be announced next Thursday. This year, for the first time, the teams themselves will be decided by a draft that will take place live shortly before the game begins next month, as opposed to a recorded draft that takes place in the weeks leading up to the game being played.
As captains, James and Antetokounmo will be responsible for drafting their teams.