2023 NBA All Star Game: All You Need to Know About Team LeBron, Team Giannis and the All Star Draft

We are just days away from 2023 NBA All-Star Weekend and excitement is definitely building for one of the biggest sporting events of the year.

The best basketball players in the world will gather at Salt Lake City, Utah to showcase their talents and skills in the NBA All-Star Game.

Who will compete in the sport’s biggest stage and how were they selected? Let’s take a deep dive into the league’s selection process and the format in which the All-Star Game will be played.

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NBA fans play a huge part in determining who will participate in the All-Star Game as they account for 50% of the vote. Current NBA players also have their say, accounting for 25% of the vote, with the remaining 25% given to a media panel account.

LeBron and Giannis named captains

LeBron James (West) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (East) were named as team captains for the 2023 NBA All-Star Game as they were the ones who received the most fan votes in their respective conferences. The All-Star starters were announced on January 26.

The Eastern Conference starters who were revealed at that time were Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks), Kevin Durant (Brooklyn Nets), Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics), Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland Cavaliers), and Kyrie Irving (Brooklyn Nets).

Durant is still recovering from an injury and will not play in the All-Star Game. Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers was selected to replace Durant as the starter.

Regarding the Western Conference, the starters named were LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers), Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets), Zion Williamson (New Orleans Pelicans), Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors) and Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks).

Just like Durant, Williamson and Curry won’t take part in this year’s All-Star Game due to injuries. Taking their place in the starting lineup are Lauri Markkanen (Utah Jazz) and Ja Morant (Memphis Grizzlies).

Who are the reserves?

All-Star reserves were announced on February 2 with the 14 players named joining the player pool for Team LeBron and Team Giannis.

The ones selected for the Western Conference at that time were Lauri Markkanen (Utah Jazz), Ja Morant (Memphis Grizzlies), Jaren Jackson Jr. (Memphis Grizzlies), Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers), Paul George (LA Clippers), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder), and Domantas Sabonis (Sacramento Kings).

Markkanen and Morant were later promoted to the starting lineup, with commissioner Adam Silver selecting Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves) and De’Aaron Fox (Sacramento Kings) as their replacements for the West reserves.

In the East, the All-Star reserves chosen were Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers), Tyrese Haliburton (Indiana Pacers), Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat), Jaylen Brown (Boston Celtics), DeMar DeRozan (Chicago Bulls), Julius Randle (New York Knicks) and Jrue Holiday (Milwaukee Bucks).

Embiid’s promotion to the starting lineup resulted in Pascal Siakam (Toronto Raptors) taking his place as a reserve for the Eastern Conference.

All-Star Draft mechanics

Lineups for Team LeBron and Team Giannis in the All-Star Game won’t be known, however, until a few hours before tip-off on Sunday. To make things more fun and interesting, the league has decided to stage the NBA All-Star Draft right before the game.

In previous editions, the team captains picked their players for the showpiece event before All-Star Weekend. That won’t be the case this time around with captains LeBron and Giannis drafting from the pool of players who were voted as starters and reserves at 7:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 19.

So how does the draft work? The process starts with the appointment of captains, who were determined by the voting results for the All-Star Game. As previously mentioned, James and Antetokounmpo got the most number of votes, so they earned the right to select their squads and have their teams named after them in the All-Star Game.

LeBron to make first pick

For this year’s draft, Team LeBron will get the first pick since the NBA’s new scoring king was the overall leading vote-getter in the All-Star balloting process. The team captains then take turns drafting from the pool of 22 players who were voted into the All-Star field.

LeBron and Giannis will first select from the eight All-Star starters before choosing from the 14 All-Star reserves. It is important to mention that conference affiliation does not matter during the All-Star draft process.

Coaches for this year’s All-Star game have also been announced with Denver Nuggets’ Michael Malone and Boston Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla leading Team LeBron and Team Giannis, respectively.

The All-Star Game is a special event and the NBA has also made special rules for it to make the product more fun for the fans watching and the players participating.

Team LeBron and Team Giannis will be competing to win each of the first three quarters, all of which will start with the score of 0-0. Just like a normal NBA game, a quarter of basketball will be 12 minutes long.

NBA implements Final Target Score

It will be different, though, come the fourth quarter. The game clock will be turned off during this period with the NBA setting a Final Target Score instead for the teams to determine the winner of the All-Star Game.

So what is the Final Target Score? It will be determined by taking the leading team’s total cumulative score through the first three quarters and adding 24 points to that. The number 24 holds special significance as it represents the jersey number of the late great Kobe Bryant for the final 10 seasons of his illustrious NBA career.

The fourth quarter will be untimed meaning the game will not finish until a team reaches the Final Target Score that is set. For example, if the score is 110-100 after the third quarter, the team that will reach 134 points first will win the All-Star Game.

NBA helps the Utah community

It isn’t just all fun and games for the players as both teams will have the opportunity to support two community-based organizations in the state of Utah.

A total of $750,000 will be contributed to “Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah” and “Raise the Future” through the NBA All-Star Game and the NBA All-Star Practice presented by AT&T.

Team LeBron to stay undefeated?

He will look to make a new record in the All-Star Game in Utah. James has never lost in this event since the All-Star Draft format was implemented, with Team LeBron winning the last five editions.

Can he make it six in a row in Salt Lake City? Or will Team Giannis finally hand him his first defeat? We shall soon find out.