James makes history with his 20th All-Star selection
LOS ANGELES >> Last year, Lakers star LeBron James overtook Kareem AbdulJabbar as the NBA's career scoring record.
And on Thursday, he broke another one of Abdul-Jabbar's long-standing records, being named an NBA All-Star for a recordbreaking 20th time.
James will be the captain of the Western Conference All-Star squad for the Feb. 18 All-Star Game in Indianapolis, while Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo — the leading vote-getter in the Eastern Conference — will captain that team.
James, a four-time league MVP who is in his 21st NBA season, entered Thursday's home game against the Chicago Bulls averaging 24.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 7.4 assists.
“Kudos to him,” coach Darvin Ham said pregame. “He's a victim of his own work and success. It's crazy. I was thinking about this to myself, like, `Damn, he'll never have an All-Star Weekend to himself just not to have any obligations.' And do that for 21 years, it's like, holy, man. Like, oof.
“But that's his work. He put that work in. He's maintained that consistency, that durability. And I'm happy for him. Congratulations to Bron. Just another great feat. And I'm sure the league and the world, you saw the votes, they're extremely happy for him to be a part of it as well.
James is a three-time NBA All-Star Game MVP (2006, '08, '18) and is the game's all-time leading scorer (426 points). He will start a record 19th consecutive All-Star Game. James has averaged 22.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.2 steals in his 19 AllStar appearances.
“It's amazing, I mean just the level of consistency all the way throughout this part of his career,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. “And as he moves into the back end of his career, it's pretty remarkable level of consistency and greatness that he's been able to display. The thing that's so impressive...the game and the medical part that these guys are so much more in tune to their bodies. But what he's been able to do physically in terms of taking care of himself and the investment that he clearly has made, and I don't know all that he's done, but clearly he's made a huge investment there to his body and understands how to take care of it and how to train it and how to rest it and all the things he needs to do.
“All these guys need their bodies, they all need their bodies. And he's, obviously, blessed with great athletic ability and talent. But him being able to take care of his body has allowed him to play at an incredibly high level of consistency for 20 years, which is amazing.”
The All-Star Game is returning to an East vs. West format for the first time since 2017, scrapping the format that saw the captains pick their respective teams with no regard to conference affiliation.
Barring injuries, James will start alongside Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant, Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid, Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton and Bucks guard Damian Lillard will also start for the East.
Starters for each conference — three frontcourt players and two guards — were selected by a combination of three different votes: fan ballots (50%), media ballots (25%) and ballots from NBA players (25%).
James led the West in fan votes with over 5 million — the only player in the conference to eclipse the mark — and was second overall in fan votes behind Antetokounmpo.
He finished second to Jokic in player and media voting.
Lakers star Anthony Davis finished fifth in player voting, fourth in fan voting and fifth in media voting.
The reserve selections, which will be voted on by the NBA's head coaches, will be announced on TNT next Thursday.