Captains LeBron, Giannis pick sides

LeBron James finally has Anthony Davis as a teammate. For one game.

His Los Angeles Lakers were unable to swing a deal for Davis, but James drafted the New Orleans Pelicans star on Thursday when he and fellow captain Giannis Antetokounmpo sat down to choose their teams for the Feb. 17 AllStar Game in Charlotte.

Davis told the Pelicans he wanted a trade, and James has made it clear that he’d love to play with him. But for now, their time as teammates will be limited to All-Star weekend.

James chose Kevin Durant with the No. 1 overall pick, as he did last year in the All-Star draft, to be one of his starters. They’ll be joined in the Team LeBron starting five by Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard and James Harden. Team Giannis, in addition to Antetokounmpo, will start Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid, Paul George and hometown favorite Kemba Walker.

Antetokounmpo took his Milwaukee teammate Khris Middleton with the first pick in the reserve round, along with Nikola Jokic, Ben Simmons, Blake Griffin, D’Angelo Russell, Nikola Vucevic and Kyle Lowry. James took Davis, Klay Thompson, Damian Lillard, Russell Westbrook, LaMarcus Aldridge, KarlAnthony Towns and 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.