In the lane

THE HONORARY: Adam Silver made a smart move last year with the addition of the Heat’s Dwyane Wade and the Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki as commissioner’s All-Star choices, beyond the 24 selections, based on their enduring contributions to the game. While Wade had announced his retirement plans by then, Nowitzki had offered no formal word. Their participation produced a special All-Star moment. Such a move seems similarly logical this year with the Hawks’ Vince

Carter, with this, at 42, likely the final such opportunity. The question then would be whether to add one such commissioner’s choice to each roster, thereby requiring another such selection. And that would be tough.

Carter entered the season with 21 years of experience. Next was Pau Gasol, who since has retired, and Tyson

Chandler, both with 18 years of tenure entering the season. But it should come down to more than evening the rosters — it should come down to an evening to pay tribute to Carter in Chicago. (The Heat’s Udonis

Haslem is the second-oldest player in the NBA behind Carter, but it has to be about more than age.)

PLACE TO BE: South Florida for years has stood as the NBA gathering place for offseason scrimmages, be it in the Miami Pro League or games at the University of Miami and other area gyms. Now, it appears to be an in-season destination as well. This past week, while in town with the Washington Wizards, sidelined guard

John Wall found a game on the court at the JW Marriott Marquis, jumping in with former Heat players

Amar’e Stoudemire and Michael Beasley, according to the Washington Post. Wall is not expected to return this season as he recovers from an Achilles tear. Stoudemire recently signed to return to play in Israel, this time with famed Maccabi Tel Aviv. Stoudemire, 37, started this season in China with the Fujian Sturgeons.

UNCOMFORTABLE REUNION: If Karl-Anthony Towns is selected for the All-Star Game, and if he were to wind up on the same team as Jimmy Butler, it could make for an awkward reunion between the former Minnesota Timberwolves teammates. In discussing his team’s struggles, Towns, if not by name, seemingly injected Butler into the equation in an interview with Minneapolis’ Star-Tribune. “Whatever we have to deal with in-house, we’ll deal with in-house. But this ain’t the circus, like it used to be,” he said, with Butler having very publicly taken issue with dysfunction with the Timberwolves at the start of 2018-19 before his trade to the Philadelphia 76ers. “This is something that’s going to be done as a family. If we have a problem or anything, we’ll deal with it internally. We won’t have any external forces here adding anything.”

OVER THERE: With all eyes on Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and his potential 2021 free agency leaving the Heat as a possible landing spot, former Boston Celtics forward and current analyst

Brian Scalabrine recently offered a rebuke to that take. “I don’t think Giannis is going to leave Milwaukee, but if Giannis did leave Milwaukee I would 100 percent go to Dallas over going to Miami, even though they have Pat

Riley and are playing well in the Eastern Conference,” he told KRLD radio in Dallas. “Playing in Dallas with Luka

[ Doncic], if you’re him and you have Giannis, KP

[ Kristaps Porzingis], and Luka, you’re not talking about maybe winning a championship, you’re talking about winning not one, not two, not three, not four … and that kind of stuff.”