A record of five international players was chosen for beginners in the NBA All-Star Game.
NEW YORK – LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers and Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets top 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 the State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
As the NBA All-Star Game starters who led their respective fan vote conferences during the NBA All-Star Voting 2021 hosted by AT&T, James and Durant will serve as team captains for the Team LeBron vs. Team showdown. Team Durant and will draw up the pool lists of players voted as starters and reservations at each conference. TNT will broadcast the 2021 NBA All-Star Draft on Thursday, March 4, at 8:00 pm Eastern time.
NBA All-Star Game starters, comprising two guards and three frontline players at each conference, were announced tonight by TNT during TNT NBA Tip-Off presented by CarMax. All-Star Game bookings, with seven players from each conference selected by NBA coaches, will be revealed by TNT on Tuesday, February 23 at 7:00 pm ET TNT NBA Tip-Off.
Along with James (attacking court), the Western Conference starter group includes Stephen Curry (guard) of the Golden State Warriors, Luka Dončić (guard) of the Dallas Mavericks, Nikola Jokić (guard) of the Denver Nuggets (attack court) and Kawhi Leonard from LA Clippers (front line).
At the Eastern Conference, Durant (attacking court) joined the starting group of Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo (attacking court), Washington Wizards’ Bradley Beal (guard), Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid (attacking court) and Nets Irving’s Kyrie (guard).
A record of five international players was elected to the NBA All-Star Game: Antetokounmpo (Greece), Dončić (Slovenia), Embiid (Cameroon), Irving (Australia) and Jokić (Serbia). The previous record was four, set last year.
The 70º The NBA All-Star Game is part of the NBA All-Star 2021, which will be held on one night, March 7. TNT’s NBA All-Star coverage will begin at 5 pm Eastern time with TNT NBA Tip-Off presented by CarMaxfollowed by Taco Bell® Skills Challenge and MTN DEW® 3-point contest starting at 6:30 pm ET. Coverage for the NBA All-Star game will begin at 8 pm Eastern Time, with AT&T Slam Dunk taking place at halftime.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
- Stephen Curry, warriors (7º All-Star Selection): Curry has been named holder of the All-Star Game for the seventh time in the past eight seasons.
- Luka Dončić, Mavericks (2WL All-Star Selection): This is the second consecutive selection as an All-Star starter for Dončić, who last year became the ninth player in the All-Star Game aged 20 or under.
- LeBron James, Lakers (17º All-Star Selection): His 17 All-Star teams are the third most in NBA history, behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (19) and Kobe Bryant (18). James, the greatest scorer in the history of the All-Star Game (385 points), is expected to extend his record for consecutive All-Star starts to 17 – a streak that began in his second NBA season, 2004-05.
- Nikola Jokić, Nuggets (3rd All-Star Selection): This marks the third consecutive All-Star selection for Jokić, who becomes the first Denver player to be elected as a starter since Carmelo Anthony in the 2010-11 season.
- Kawhi Leonard, Clippers (5º All-Star Selection): Leonard was named starter all five times as an All-Star.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
- Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks (5º All-Star Selection): An All-Star holder for the fifth consecutive year, Antetokounmpo has the highest scoring average in the history of the All-Star Game, with 27.3 points per game.
- Bradley Beal, Wizards (3rd All-Star Selection): The 2020-21 NBA scoring leader was elected to start the All-Star Game for the first time.
- Kevin Durant, Nets (11º All-Star Selection): Durant, who holds the second highest scoring average in the history of the All-Star Game (25.0 ppg), is an All-Star for all 11º direct season in which he played.
- Joel Embiid, 76ers (4º All-Star Selection): Embiid is the first Philadelphia player selected to start four consecutive All-Star Games since Allen Iverson was named as the first straight player in 2000-06.
- Kyrie Irving, Nets (7º All-Star Selection): Irving was voted to start the All-Star Game with three different franchises (Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics and Nets) – the same as teammate Durant in Brooklyn (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 the fan vote. Curry (5,481,033 fan votes) and Beal (3,485,051 fan votes) also led their respective position groups in the fan vote.
After all votes were counted, players were ranked at each conference by position (guard and attacking court) within each of the three voting groups – fan votes, player votes and media votes. Each player’s score was calculated by averaging their weighted rating from fan votes, player votes and the media. The two guards and the three attack zone players with the best scores in each conference were named as holders of the NBA All-Star Game.
Fan votes served as a tiebreaker for players in a position group with the same score. Dončić won the tie with Portland Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard for second place in the Western Conference guard group.
Below are the overall scores – based on the results of all three voting groups – for the top finishers in each position. Each player’s score is weighted based on 50% of fan votes, 25% of player votes and 25% of media votes. The formula for determining a player’s score is (Fan Rank * 2 + Player Rank + Media Rank) / 4. For complete voting results and a list of media voters, visit pr.nba.com.
FRONTCOURT OF THE WESTERN CONFERENCE
| Player (Team) | Fan rank | Player rating | Media classification | Weighted Score |
| 1. * # LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 |
| 2. * Nikola Jokić (Denver) | two | two | two | 2.0 |
| 3. * Kawhi Leonard (LA Clippers) | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3.25 |
| 4. Anthony Davis (Los Angeles Lakers) | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4.0 |
| 5. Paul George (LA Clippers) | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5.0 |
| 6. Zion Williamson (New Orleans) | 6 | 8 | 8 | 7.0 |
| 7. Brandon Ingram (New Orleans) | 9 | 6 | 8 | 8.0 |
| 8. Christian Wood (Houston) | 8 | 10 | 7 | 8.25 |
| 9. Rudy Gobert (Utah) | 12 | 7 | 4 | 8.75 |
| 10. Carmelo Anthony (Portland) | 10 | 9 | 8 | 9.25 |
BACKCOURT OF THE WESTERN CONFERENCE
| Player (Team) | Fan rank | Player rating | Media classification | Weighted Score |
| 1. * Stephen Curry (Golden State) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 |
| 2. * Luka Dončić (Dallas) | two | 3 | 3 | 2.5 ^ |
| 3. Damian Lillard (Portland) | 3 | two | two | 2.5 ^ |
| 4. Donovan Mitchell (Utah) | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4.25 |
| 5. Devin Booker (Phoenix) | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4.75 |
| 6. Ja Morant (Memphis) | 6 | 9 | 5 | 6.5 |
| 7. Chris Paul (Phoenix) | 7 | 7 | 5 | 6.5 |
| 8. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City) | 11 | 7 | 5 | 8.5 |
| 9. CJ McCollum (Portland) | 10 | 14 | 5 | 9.75 |
| 10. DeMar DeRozan (San Antonio) | 12 | 10 | 5 | 9.75 |
*–Voted to start
# -Captain captain
^ –Tiebreaker for the starting point is the fan rating
EASTERN CONFERENCE FRONTCOURT
| Player (Team) | Fan rank | Player rating | Media classification | Weighted Score |
| 1. * # Kevin Durant (Brooklyn) | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1.5 |
| 2. * Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee) | two | two | 1 | 1.75 |
| 3. * Joel Embiid (Philadelphia) | 3 | 3 | two | 2.75 |
| 4. Jayson Tatum (Boston) | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4.5 |
| 5. Jimmy Butler (Miami) | 5 | 6 | 7 | 5.75 |
| 6. Bam Adebayo (Miami) | 6 | 4 | 7 | 5.75 |
| 7. Julius Randle (New York) | 7 | 8 | 5 | 6.75 |
| 8. Domantas Sabonis (Indiana) | 8 | 9 | 4 | 7.25 |
| 9. Jerami Grant (Detroit) | 10 | 7 | 7 | 8.5 |
| 10. Gordon Hayward (Charlotte) | 9 | 15 | 7 | 10.0 |
EASTERN CONFERENCE BACKCOURT
| Player (Team) | Fan rank | Player rating | Media classification | Weighted Score |
| 1. * Bradley Beal (Washington) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 |
| 2. * Kyrie Irving (Brooklyn) | two | two | 4 | 2.5 |
| 3. James Harden (Brooklyn) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3.0 |
| 4. Zach LaVine (Chicago) | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4.0 |
| 5. Jaylen Brown (Boston) | 5 | 5 | two | 4.25 |
| 6. Trae Young (Atlanta) | 6 | 11 | 6 | 7.25 |
| 7. Russell Westbrook (Washington) | 7 | 12 | 7 | 8.25 |
| 8. Ben Simmons (Philadelphia) | 11 | 6 | 7 | 8.75 |
| 9. Fred VanVleet (Toronto) | 10 | 7 | 9 | 9.0 |
| 10. Collin Sexton (Cleveland) | 9 | 13 | 9 | 10.0 |
*–Voted to start
#– Team captain
^ –Tiebreaker for the starting point is the fan rating