League changes All-star Draft format to avoid hurt feelings
SALT LAKE CITY — The “last pick” of tonight’s night’s Allstar Draft will be a starter.
The NBA has changed the format of the draft, and Lebron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo — the captains — will make their picks from the pool of reserve players first.
They’ll then choose their starting lineups, from the pool of eight other starters. The switch will ensure that no player will have to deal with the stigma of being picked last, even though that hasn’t been much of an issue in the past.
This is the sixth year of the format where captains — determined by fan voting — choose their own All-star rosters, but the first year in which those captains will do so on game night and basically right in front of the other All-stars.
The 2018 draft was not shown publicly. The 2019 draft had Bradley Beal as the last pick among reserves, not including Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki — who were added to the game by Commissioner Adam Silver to commemorate their final seasons. (Nowitzki wound up being the last pick.)
In 2020, Domantas Sabonis, then of Indiana, was the last pick. In 2021, Rudy Gobert, then of Utah, was the last reserve left on the board. And last year, the final pick was James Harden — after Kevin Durant took Gobert, and didn’t choose his former Brooklyn teammate in a comical scene.
Rising stars
New Orleans guard Jose Alvarado’s drifting 3-pointer clinched a 25-20 win for Team Pau (Gasol) over Team Joakim (Noah) in the title game of the Rising Stars event Friday at All-*
Star weekend.
Alvarado, who was named most valuable player, had five points in the title game.
The win capped a memorable day for Gasol, who was named a Basketball Hall of Fame finalist earlier.
“I’m going out on top. It may be one and done for me,” Gasol said of his coaching debut.
New York’s Quentin Grimes scored 14 points in the final but was wrapped up — literally held at times — by Alvarado down the stretch.
“I didn’t know you could do that in the Rising Stars game. I should have alerted the refs to call a technical or something,” Grimes said. “It was all fun but I was going for the win tonight.”
Said Alvarado: “It might not have been (legal), but he was doing good.”
The four teams, composed of 21 first- and second-year NBA players along with seven G League players, competed in semifinal games to a target score of 40.
Alvarado’s 13 points helped Team Pau top Team Deron (Williams) in the first game 40-27, despite an array of spectacular dunks by Trey Murphy III.
In the second semifinal, Grimes scored 13 points including the winning 3 to power Team Joakim over Team Jason (Terry), composed of the G Leaguers. Mac Mcclung, who competed in Saturday’s Dunk Contest, nearly stole the show with 10 points in the comeback bid but missed a jam on his last attempt.
Celebrity game
Team Dwyane rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Team Ryan 81-78 in the NBA All-star Celebrity Game on Friday night. Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith and Basketball Hall of Fame finalist Dwyane Wade served as honorary captains of the celebrity teams.
Seattle Seahawks receiver DK Metcalf paced Team Dwyane with 20 points and 10 rebounds — but he’ll be best remembered for an array of dunks. Actor Everett Osbourne led Team Ryan with 23 points, 12 rebounds and three assists. Metcalf was named the game’s MVP.
Each celebrity team included a WNBA All-star.