The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)

James picks Durant, Irving in the All-Star draft

- By Brian Mahoney The Associated Press

NEW YORK » LeBron James got Kevin Durant and reunited with Kyrie Irving in the NBA’s first All-Star draft.

Stephen Curry picked James Harden and Giannis Antetokoun­mpo, the NBA’s top two scorers, and grabbed his other two Golden State teammates in the selections Thursday.

The draft was not televised, and neither James nor Curry would reveal who they chose first when they were interviewe­d on TNT when the rosters were unveiled.

James and Curry will be the captains Feb. 18 in Los Angeles for the first NBA AllStar Game that doesn’t use the Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference format.

The league is hoping that trying to do something new will bring back some oldschool intensity that has been absent from the last two games, when the West nearly scored 200 points.

James also took the New Orleans duo of Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins. His reserves are Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook, the NBA MVP, Cleveland teammate Kevin Love, Washington guards John Wall and Bradley Beal, LaMarcus Aldridge of San Antonio, Indiana’s Victor Oladipo and Kristaps Porzingis of New York.

After taking starters Joel Embiid of Philadelph­ia and DeMar DeRozan of Toronto, Curry rounded out his roster with Warriors teammates Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, Minnesota’s Jimmy Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns, Toronto’s Kyle Lowry, Portland’s Damian Lillard, and Boston’s Al Horford.

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