Lakers’ star LeBron James will participate in the 2019 NBA All-Star Game Draft on Thursday, at 4 p.m. PT that will be televised live on TNT during the “NBA All-Star Draft Show.”
James remains arguably the greatest active player in the NBA, so it came as no surprise that he led the Western Conference in becoming the West’s’ All-Star captain for the 2019 NBA All-Star Game. James was voted in for his fifteenth season as an NBA All-Star starter. He was positioned opposite Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo (Eastern Conference)as the two most touted frontcourt players from each conference selected by fans, current NBA players and a media panel to be captain in the 68th NBA All-Star Game.
With this election, James is tied for the third-most selections in league history behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (19) and Kobe Bryant (18). The Western Conference starter pool also voted Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (guard), Kevin Durant (frontcourt), Houston Rockets’ James Harden (guard), and Oklahoma City Thunder’s Paul George (frontcourt). George edged out New Orleans Pelicans’ Anthony Davis in a tiebreaker for a starting spot.
As Eastern and Western Conference NBA All-Star Game captains, Antetokounmpo and James respectively will draft the remaining eight players. The draft will be the 14 remaining players from the reserve pool regardless of the player’s conference affiliation or position. As a result of receiving the most amount of fan votes with 1,083,363, James will make the first pick in the First Round (starters) during the NBA All-Star Draft.
The five starters from the Eastern Conference are Boston’s Kyrie Irving, Charlotte’s Kemba Walker, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was the East’s leading fan vote-getter and will serve as the other captain, Toronto’s Kawhi Leonard and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid.
The Wests’ reserves are LaMarcus Aldridge, Anthony Davis, Nikola Jokic, Damian Lillard, Klay Thompson, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Russell Westbrook. While the Easts’ reserves remain, Bradley Beal, Blake Griffin, Kyle Lowry, Khris Middleton, D’Angelo Russell, Ben Simmons, and Nikola Vucevic.
The 2019 All-Star Game will be held on Feb. 17 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
