All-Star rosters set after captains’ draft
LeBron James finally has Anthony Davis as a teammate. Well, at least for one game. James’ Los Angeles Lakers were unable to swing a deadline deal for Davis, but James drafted the New Orleans Pelicans star Thursday night when he and fellow captain Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks sat down to choose their teams for the Feb. 17 NBA AllStar Game in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Davis told the Pelicans he wanted a trade, and James has made it clear that he’d love to play with him. But the Pelicans kept Davis as the league’s trade deadline passed, so for now their time as teammates will be limited to All-Star weekend.
James pounced at the chance to grab him with the second pick of the reserve round.
“I’m very sure of that,” James said, when asked by TNT host Ernie Johnson if he was sure he wanted Davis as a teammate.
“Isn’t that tampering?” Antetokounmpo asked.
Responded James, as both players laughed: “Tampering rules do not apply on All-Star weekend,” a thinly veiled reference to the reaction James got when he previously listed Davis as one of many players he would like the chance to play with during the real season.
James chose the Golden State Warriors’ Kevin Durant with the No. 1 overall pick, as he did last year in the AllStar draft, to be one of his starters. They’ll be joined in the Team LeBron starting five by the Boston Celtics’ Kyrie Irving, the Toronto Raptors’ Kawhi Leonard and the Houston Rockets’ James Harden. Team Giannis, in addition to Antetokounmpo, will start Golden State’s Stephen Curry, the Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Paul George and hometown favorite Kemba Walker of the Bobcats.
Antetokounmpo explained he took George for one reason: “He had a huge dunk on me,” Antetokounmpo said, tipping his cap to the slam the Thunder star threw down last month.
Antetokounmpo took Milwaukee teammate Khris Middleton with the first pick in the reserve round, when he also picked the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic, Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons, the Detroit Pistons’ Blake Griffin, the Brooklyn Nets’ D’Angelo Russell, the Orlando Magic’s Nikola Vucevic and Toronto’s Kyle Lowry.
James took Davis, Golden State’s Klay Thompson, the Portland Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard, Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook, the San Antonio Spurs’ LaMarcus Aldridge, the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Karl-Anthony Towns and the Washington Wizards’ Bradley Beal.
James managed to make a trade, convincing Antetokounmpo to swap Westbrook for Simmons — and give the Bucks star the chance to have Westbrook and Embiid together, as he said he wanted. The NBA signed off on the trade.
That left the third round and the decision between the two special additions to the game by NBA commissioner Adam Silver — the Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade and the Dallas Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki. James took Wade, his former Miami and Cleveland Cavaliers teammate and longtime close friend, leaving Nowitzki for Antetokounmpo’s side.
Milwaukee’s Mike Budenholzer will coach Team Giannis, his second time leading an All-Star team. Denver coach Michael Malone will make his All-Star debut, coaching Team LeBron.