Young players step into All-Star spotlight
Giannis Antetokounmpo was almost done picking sides with LeBron James for Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game when he pretended to have a case of mistaken identity.
“So with my next pick, I’ll pick a guy that is having a great season, helping his team do great things,” said Antetokounmpo, who along with James served as captains during the annual allstar draft last Thursday. “I just played him a couple of nights ago. Kevin Dur---. I mean, Brandon Ingram.
That will be Brandon Ingram.”
The NBA’s reigning MVP cracked up at his own joke, which nodded to years of comparisons between Ingram, a lanky 22-year-old forward for the New Orleans Pelicans, and Kevin Durant, the two-time NBA Finals MVP who signed with the Brooklyn Nets last summer.
There will be 10 first-time selections in the All-Star Game Sunday, the most since 2002. There will also be three first-time selections in the starting lineups
for the first time since 1994. That group includes East starters Pascal Siakam and Trae Young; East reserves Bam Adebayo, Domantas Sabonis and Jayson Tatum; West starter Luka Doncic; and West reserves Devin Booker, Rudy Gobert,
Ingram and Donovan
Mitchell.
The number of new faces in Chicago has been inflated, of course, because of a rash of injuries to established superstars. In addition to Durant, Stephen Curry, Paul George, Blake
Griffin, Kyrie Irving, Victor Oladipo and Klay Thompson are all missing out because of health concerns.
Clippers
The NBA fined Los Angeles’ Paul George $35,000, two days after he was critical of the officiating after his team lost to Philadelphia. This marks at least the fifth time George has been fined in his career for such comments, and this came with the stiffest fine — topping the $25,000 he was docked on two other occasions.
Kings
Sacramento and Intel announced plans for the NBA’s first research and development site devoted to finding new ways for fans to access replay angles never seen before. The Kings plan to unveil an app next season where fans can tap into video streams and choose their own replays. “We think that the technology is moving so fast that we just need to keep shifting the goalpost so we can keep doing better,” Kings owner Vivek Ranadive said.