2021 NBA All-Star Game Newbies Revealed

A record five international players have been voted starters in the NBA All-Star Game.

NEW YORK – LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers and Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets lead the list of 10 players who have been selected by fans, current NBA players and a media panel to start the 2021 NBA All-Star Game, which takes place on Sunday, March 7 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

As newbies to the NBA All-Star Game who led their respective conferences during the fan vote in the 2021 NBA All-Star Vote presented by AT&T, James and Durant will serve as the team captains for the Team LeBron vs Team game. Durant and will write the roster of the team. player pool voted as starters and reservists in each conference. TNT will air the 2021 NBA All-Star Draft on Thursday, March 4 at 8 p.m. ET.

The debutants of the NBA All-Star Game, 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, with seven players from each conference selected by NBA head coaches, will be unveiled by TNT on Tuesday, February 23 at 7 p.m. ET during TNT NBA Council.

Along with James (frontcourt), the Western Conference starting pool includes Stephen Curry (guard) of the Golden State Warriors, Luka Dončić of the Dallas Mavericks (guard), Nikola Jokić of the Denver Nuggets (frontcourt) and Kawhi Leonard of LA Clippers. (frontcourt).

In the Eastern Conference, Durant (frontcourt) is joined in the starting pool by Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks (frontcourt), Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards (guard), Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers (frontcourt) and Kyrie of the Nets. Irving (guard).

A record five international players have been elected NBA All-Star Game starters: Antetokounmpo (Greece), Dončić (Slovenia), Embiid (Cameroon), Irving (Australia) and Jokić (Serbia). The previous record was four, set last year.

The 70^e NBA All-Star Game is part of NBA All-Star 2021, which will be held on March 7 one night. TNT’s NBA All-Star coverage will begin at 5 p.m. ET with TNT NBA Tip-Off presented by CarMax, followed by Taco Bell^® Challenge and MTN DEW skills^® 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 at halftime.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

• Stephen Curry, warriors (7^e All-Star Selection): Curry has been named the All-Star Game Starter for the seventh time in the past eight seasons.
• Luka Doncic, Mavericks (2^nd All-Star Selection): This is the second consecutive selection as a starter for Dončić, who last year became the ninth player to play in the All-Star Game aged 20 or under.
• LeBron James, Lakers (17^e All-Star Selection): His 17 All-Star selections are the third strongest in NBA history, behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (19) and Kobe Bryant (18). James, the all-star top scorer in All-Star Game history (385 points), is set to extend his All-Star consecutive start record to 17 – a streak that started in his second NBA season, 2004 -05.
• Nikola Jokic, Nuggets (3^rd All-Star Selection): This is the third consecutive All-Star selection for Jokić, who becomes the first Denver player to vote since Carmelo Anthony in the 2010-11 season.
• Kawhi Leonard, Clippers (5^e All-Star Selection): Leonard has been named a starter all five times as an All-Star.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

• Giannis Antetokounmpo, dollars (5^e All-Star Selection): All-Star Starter For the fifth consecutive year, Antetokounmpo has the highest scoring average in All-Star Game history with 27.3 points per game.
• Bradley Beal, wizards (3^rd All-Star Selection): The 2020-21 NBA Scores Leader has been voted to start the All-Star Game for the first time.
• Kevin Durant, nets (11^e All-Star Selection): Durant, who holds the second-highest all-star average in all-star game history (25.0 ppg), is an all-star player for the 11^e consecutive season in which he played.
• Joel Embiid, 76ers (4^e All-Star Selection): Embiid is the first Philadelphia player selected to start four straight All-Star games since Allen Iverson was named a starter seven in a row from 2000 to 2006.
• Kyrie Irving, nets (7^e 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 his Brooklyn teammate Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder, Warriors and Nets).

NBA ALL-STAR VOTE RESULTS

Fans made up 50% of the vote to determine the NBA All-Star Game starters, while current NBA players and a media panel made up 25% 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 the fan vote.

Once all the votes were counted, the players were ranked in each conference by position (guard and frontcourt) in each of the three voting groups – fan votes, player votes and media votes. Each player’s score was calculated by averaging their weighted ranking from fan votes, player votes, and media votes. The two guards and three frontcourt players with the highest scoring in each conference were named the NBA All-Star Game starters.

Fan votes served as a tiebreaker for players in a position group with the same score. Dončić won the tiebreaker with Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers for second place to start in the Western Conference ranger group.

Below are the overall ratings – based on the results of the three voting groups – for the best at each position. Each player’s score is weighted on the basis of 50% for fan vote, 25% for player vote and 25% for media vote. The formula for determining a player’s score is (Fan Rank * 2 + Player Rank + Media Rank) / 4. For full voting results and a list of media voters, please visit pr.nba.com.