The starters of the 2021 NBA All-Star Game were announced with some interesting decisions including a tie between two players on the Eastern Conference. The format remains as one captain with four more players for each conference.
Western Conference:
LeBron James (captain), Nikola Jokic, Kawhi Leonard, Stephen Curry, and Luka Doncic.
The King keeps dominating when it comes to voting as he had first place in all fields between the media, players, and the fans. The rest on the frontcourt in the west was a no-brainer as Jokic is having the best season of his career with career-highs in almost every category with 27.4 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 8.6 assists per game. As for Kawhi, the Clippers are third in the conference he beat his partner Paul George for the last spot in the starting lineup.
This season the debate was more centered in the backcourt between Stephen Curry, Luka Doncic, Damian Lillard, and Donovan Mitchell. In the end, Curry and Doncic clinched the starting positions but it was a close one between the Lillard and Doncic. Both players were tied in the voting and the tie-breaker, which was the fan voting, went in favor of the Dallas Mavericks’ star player.
The case for Mitchell was less talked about during the past weeks but he’s leading the Utah Jazz to the best record in the league and has won 20 games of their last 21 so he deserves some recognition in the conversation.
Eastern Conference:
Kevin Durant (captain), Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, Bradley Beal, and Kyrie Irving.
In the East, it was Durant who earned the captain label in his first playing season in the conference. In the same way, as in the West Conference, there was no debate in the other two frontcourt spots and the was more conversation in the backcourt.
Giannis is having pretty much the same season as in the ones past when talking about stats and the Bucks have the third seed in the conference. As for Embiid, he is even in the MVP conversation with an amazing season in Philadelphia.
In the backcourt, Bradley Beal is leading the NBA in scoring with 32.8 points per game and makes a very deserving selection for the All-Star Game. The debate entered in the second spot with both Nets’ players in Kyrie Irving, and James Harden, Jaylen Brown, and Zach LaVine.
Brown was selected by the media as a starter but the fan and player votes gave Irving the last spot in the starting lineup.
On Tuesday, the NBA will announce the reserve players to complete all the players that will be in this year’s All-Star Game.
