On Thursday Jan. 25, the NBA announced the starters for the 73rd NBA All-Star game, which will be hosted in Indianapolis at the Indiana Pacers’ Gainbridge Field House on Sunday Feb. 18.. The All-Star game will be reverting back to its original Eastern Conference vs Western Conference setup.
Starting for the Eastern Conference team will be Giannis Antetokounmpo, averaging 23.1 ppg for the Milwaukee Bucks, Joel Embiid, averaging 27.9 ppg for the Philadelphia 76ers, Jayson Tatum, averaging 22.9 ppg for the Boston Celtics, Tyrese Halliburton, averaging 17.3 ppg for the Indiana Pacers and Damian Lillard, averaging 25.2 ppg for the Milwaukee Bucks.
For the Western Conference, the starters are LeBron James, averaging 27.1 ppg for the Los Angeles Lakers, Nikol Jokic, averaging 20.7 ppg for the Denver Nuggets, Kevin Durant, averaging 27.3 ppg for the Phoenix Suns, Luka Doncic, averaging 28.3 ppg for the Dallas Mavericks and Shia Gilgeous, averaging 31.1 ppg for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Western Conference has more well-known players, which will attract more fans getting to see their favorite players play together.
The game will be played in four, 12-minute quarters and will feature the two teams of 12. James’ team is expected to win the game. Team LeBron had the highest total All-Star votes, and this will be James’ sixth straight season as an All Star team captain.