NEW YORK — The Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James and the Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant lead the list of 10 players who have been selected by fans, current NBA players and a media panel to start in the 2021 NBA All-Star Game, which will take place on Sunday, March 7 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
As the NBA All-Star Game starters who led their respective conferences in fan votes during NBA All-Star Voting 2021 presented by AT&T, James and Durant will serve as team captains for the Team LeBron vs. Team Durant matchup and draft the rosters from the pool of players voted as starters and reserves in each conference. TNT will air the 2021 NBA All-Star Draft on Thursday, March 4 at 8 p.m. ET.
The NBA All-Star Game starters, comprising two guards and three frontcourt players in each conference, were announced tonight by TNT during TNT NBA Tip-Off presented by CarMax. The All-Star Game reserves, featuring seven players from each conference as selected by NBA head coaches, will be unveiled by TNT on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. ET during TNT NBA Tip-Off.
Along with James (frontcourt), the Western Conference starter pool includes the Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (guard), the Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic (guard), the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic (frontcourt) and the LA Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard (frontcourt).
In the Eastern Conference, Durant (frontcourt) is joined in the starter pool by the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo (frontcourt), the Washington Wizards’ Bradley Beal (guard), the Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid (frontcourt) and the Nets’ Kyrie Irving (guard).
A record five international players have been voted NBA All-Star Game starters: Antetokounmpo (Greece), Doncic (Slovenia), Embiid (Cameroon), Irving (Australia) and Jokic (Serbia). The previous record was four, which was set last year.
The 70th NBA All-Star Game is part of NBA All-Star 2021, which will be held on one night, March 7. TNT’s NBA All-Star coverage will begin at 5 p.m. ET with TNT NBA Tip-Off presented by CarMax, followed by the Taco Bell® Skills Challenge and MTN DEW® 3-Point Contest starting at 6:30 p.m. ET. Coverage of the NBA All-Star Game will begin at 8 p.m. ET, with AT&T Slam Dunk taking place at halftime.
2021 NBA ALL-STAR GAME STARTER POOL
Western Conference
- Stephen Curry, Warriors (7th All-Star selection): Curry has been named an All-Star Game starter for the seventh time in the last eight seasons.
- Luka Doncic, Mavericks (2nd All-Star selection): This is the second straight selection as an All-Star starter for Doncic, who last year became the ninth player to play in the All-Star Game at age 20 or younger.
- LeBron James, Lakers (17th All-Star selection): His 17 All-Star selections are the third most in NBA history, behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (19) and Kobe Bryant (18). James, the leading scorer in All-Star Game history (385 points), is set to extend his record for consecutive All-Star starts to 17 – a streak that began in his second NBA season, 2004-05.
- Nikola Jokic, Nuggets (3rd All-Star selection): This marks the third consecutive All-Star selection for Jokic, who becomes the first Denver player voted to start since Carmelo Anthony in the 2010-11 season.
- Kawhi Leonard, Clippers (5th All-Star selection): Leonard has been named a starter all five times as an All-Star.
Eastern Conference
- Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks (5th All-Star selection): An All-Star starter for the fifth consecutive year, Antetokounmpo has the highest scoring average in All-Star Game history at 27.3 points per game.
- Bradley Beal, Wizards (3rd All-Star selection): The 2020-21 NBA scoring leader has been voted to start the All-Star Game for the first time.
- Kevin Durant, Nets (11th All-Star selection): Durant, who holds the second-highest scoring average in All-Star Game history (25.0 ppg), is an All-Star for the 11th straight season in which he has played.
- Joel Embiid, 76ers (4th All-Star selection): Embiid is the first Philadelphia player selected to start four consecutive All-Star Games since Allen Iverson was named a starter seven times in a row from 2000-06.
- Kyrie Irving, Nets (7th All-Star selection): Irving has now been voted to start the All-Star Game with three different franchises (Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics and Nets) – the same as Brooklyn teammate Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder, Warriors and Nets).
NBA ALL-STAR VOTING RESULTS
Fans accounted for 50 percent of the vote to determine the NBA All-Star Game starters, while current NBA players and a media panel accounted for 25 percent each. James (5,922,554 fan votes) and Durant (5,567,106 fan votes) led their respective conferences and position groups in fan voting. Curry (5,481,033 fan votes) and Beal (3,485,051 fan votes) also led their respective position groups in fan voting.
After all votes were tallied, players were ranked in each conference by position (guard and frontcourt) within each of the three voting groups – fan votes, player votes and media votes. Each player’s score was calculated by averaging his weighted rank from the fan votes, the player votes and the media votes. The two guards and three frontcourt players with the best score in each conference were named NBA All-Star Game starters.
Fan votes served as the tiebreaker for players in a position group with the same score. Doncic won the tiebreaker with the Portland Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard for the second starting spot in the Western Conference guard group.
