The All-Star teams have been finalized and selected with the draft being broadcasted on the Hall of Fame sports show Inside the NBA on TNT. The show began with Kevin Durant being asked about the blockbuster trade of James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers and he responded by saying,’ Everybody got what they wanted.’. The crew then went on to ask the players to make their picks.
Lebron selected Giannis Antetokounmpo-The Greek Freak as his first pick while Kevin Durant went with the MVP frontrunner from Philadelphia, Joel Embiid. The starters for Team LeBron are Giannis, Steph Curry, Demar Derozan, Lebron, and Nikola Jokic. The starters for team Durant are Joel Embiid, Ja Morant, Jayson Tatum, Andrew Wiggins, and Trae Young. KD will be out due to his MCL injury and will not be playing in the All-star game.
The first pick from the reserves for KD was Devin Booker from the Suns while LeBron picked Luka Doncic. The Team Durant reserves are Devin Booker, Lamelo Ball, Rudy Gobert, Zach Lavine, Khris Middleton, Dejounte Murray, and Karl Anthony Towns. Team LeBron reserves are Luka Doncic, Darius Garland, Jimmy Butler, Donovan Mitchell, Chris Paul, Fred Vanvleet, and James Harden. KD tried to trade for Darius Garland but LeBron said he was ‘untouchable’.
The crew was joking around with KD about leaving James Harden till the end because of the trade being made. Once the 2 teams were finalized, KD was asked whether he could hand LeBron his first All-star loss when he was the one picking his team. He said he felt good about his chances and how it would be special to beat LeBron on his home turf (LeBron is from Cleveland where the All-star game is being held this season).
The All-star game this year will also involve the unveiling of the Kobe Bryant All-star MVP trophy for the first time and will have players trying to win the first-ever Kobe Bryant award. The game will be held in Cleveland this season on 22 February 2022. The All-star festivities as usual include the dunk contest, the skill challenge, and the 3 point contest. The NBA celebrity game this time will also be a great watch with our NBA Ambassador Ranveer Singh being a part of it. All in all, it should be a great weekend of basketball that we can all look forward to.