LeBron James has tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record for most NBA All-Star selections after being named for the 19th time on Thursday.
The Los Angeles Lakers star, who is closing in on Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA career scoring record, was the leading overall vote-getter and will captain one of the teams alongside Eastern Conference vote leader Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The game will take place on February 19 in Salt Lake City, with the NBA using the captain format for the All-Star Game for the sixth year.
James has been a captain every time and has never lost, taking a 5-0 record into this year. Antetokounmpo is a captain for the third time, after also earning that right in 2019 and 2020.
James and Antetokounmpo will pick their teams shortly before the game in Salt Lake City, a newly announced twist and a departure from past years in which the captains picked a week or two in advance of All-Star weekend.
The other eight starters they’ll be choosing from, barring any changes because of injury beforehand, are Denver’s two-time reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, NBA scoring leader Luka Doncic of Dallas, Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Boston’s Jayson Tatum, Brooklyn teammates Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell and New Orleans’ Zion Williamson.
The big intrigue was the third East frontcourt spot, where Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid was the odd man out after Antetokounmpo, Durant and Tatum were the top three in the balloting.
Starters – three frontcourt players and two guards from each conference – were selected by a combination of three different votes: fan balloting counted for 50 per cent, media balloting 25 per cent and voting by the NBA’s players made up the final 25 per cent.
The reserves, which are chosen by votes from the league’s coaches, will be announced on February 2. Among the players certain to merit strong consideration are Portland’s Damian Lillard, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Boston’s Jaylen Brown and Miami’s Bam Adebayo.
James is 157 points away from Abdul-Jabbar’s career scoring total of 38,387 points. At his current average of 29.9 points per game, James will need just over five games to break the record and, if he doesn’t miss any games in the interim, would be on pace to pass Abdul-Jabbar in a February 7 home game against Oklahoma City.
And that means the All-Star weekend, if James passes the record beforehand, could be a celebration of his breaking a record that Abdul-Jabbar has held for nearly 40 years.
“Calculating out when it might happen, it seems at this point it’s likely to happen before our All-Star break,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said last week in Paris.
“If it were to happen before our All-Star break, it seems like the All-Star Game this year, which is in Salt Lake City, may be the perfect opportunity to honour him.”
James is now tied with Abdul-Jabbar for most All-Star selections and if he plays in Salt Lake City he will become the first player in NBA history to actually appear in 19 All-Star games as Abdul-Jabbar was selected for the 1973 game but did not play.
Source: AAP