2023 NBA All-Star Game roster announcement takeaways: LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo voted team captains – CBS Sports

With more than half of the 2022-23 season in the books and the All-Star Game approaching, it’s time to name the starters for the league’s mid-season exhibition. Those starters were determined by a vote divided amongst fans (50 percent), media (25 percent) and players (25), and on Thursday, those starters were announced on TNT with an assist from the accounting firm Ernst and Young. With two guards and three front-court players coming from each conference, the following 10 players have been selected:

Just because players are selected by conference doesn’t mean teams are divided that way anymore. For the sixth consecutive year, the leading vote-getter in each conference will draft their teams, and for the sixth consecutive year, James is captaining one of the two teams. His counterpart will be Giannis Antetokounmpo for the third time as he was named the game’s second captain.

With the starters now announced, we can now look ahead to Feb. 2, when the reserves will be revealed. Unlike recent years, the All-Star Game Draft will be held right before the game itself on Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Here are three key takeaways:

1. Team LeBron vs. Team Giannis Part III

Ever since the league moved to the captains’ picks format back in 2018, only four players have had the honor: LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry. James has done so all six years, while Antetokounmpo has done it three, making Team LeBron vs. Team Giannis the most common matchup we’ve seen. 

While determining the starters is based on a somewhat complicated process in which each player is assigned a weighted score using a combination of fan, media and player voting, choosing the captains is much easier. The player in each conference who receives the most fan votes gets the gig. 

The last time these two were captains was in 2020, which is the year the league debuted the use of the Elam Ending format, where teams play to a final score in the fourth quarter instead of using a clock. Team LeBron won on a pair of walk-off free throws by Anthony Davis that time around; hopefully, this year’s contest is just as exciting. 

2. Embiid gets snubbed

Heading into Thursday night, one of the biggest questions was which Eastern Conference frontcourt player would get left out of the starting lineup? The four best players in the conference are all forwards or centers, but there are only three starting frontcourt spots.

They went to Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant and Jayson Tatum, leaving Joel Embiid as the odd man out. That’s despite Embiid averaging 33.4 points (second in the league), 9.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.7 blocks per game, and the Sixers sitting in second place in the East at 31-16. 

The problem for Embiid is that all of the other guys have incredible numbers and play on great teams as well. Antetokounmpo is putting up 31/12/5.6; Durant’s at 29.7/6.7/5.3; Tatum is going for 31/8.6/4.4. The Bucks are third in the East, the Nets are fourth and the Celtics are first. 

One argument against Embiid is that he’s missed 12 games this season, but even then Antetokounmpo has been out for 11 and Durant has sat for eight and counting. Tatum is the only one who hasn’t had any injury trouble this season. What this ultimately comes down to is bad luck for Embiid that he plays in the same era and same conference as three unbelievable talents.

3. LeBron makes more history

The main story on Thursday is that LeBron James will be an All-Star captain for the sixth year in a row after receiving the most fan votes in the West. But with that honor, he has also clinched his 19th consecutive All-Star appearance, which gives him yet another spot in the record books. 

Overall, he has moved past Kobe Bryant on the all-time All-Star Game appearance list and is now tied with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most in NBA history. In addition, he is the first player to make 19 consecutive All-Star Games; Abdul-Jabbar’s appearances were split into two stints because he didn’t make it in 1978. 

It’s fitting that James has now matched Abdul-Jabbar for All-Star trips given that he’s also chasing him down for the all-time scoring record. If everything goes to plan, James will have that mark a few weeks before everyone heads to Salt Lake City. 

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