NBA All-Star Game 2021 Roster: Starters, reserves & captains for each team
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The entire roster for the 2021 NBA All-Star Game was revealed more than 10 days ago. Yet, fans lay in wait for the All-Star Draft that would decide the final composition of both the teams set to play in the marquee matchup on March 7 in Atlanta.
LeBron James and Kevin Durant were named the two team captains after receiving the highest number of votes in the West and East respectively. The duo sat down with the TNT crew earlier tonight in a televised event to hand-pick their squads from the pool of nominated All-Stars.
NBA All-Star Game 2021: LeBron James and Kevin Durant finalize their teams
Up first for grabs were the 10 starters who were picked through a combination of fan, media and player voting. LeBron James got the chance to pick first in the NBA All-Star Draft by virtue of receiving the highest fan votes in the league. He had no qualms in choosing his opposing captain for the last two editions of the NBA All-Star Game, Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Kevin Durant picked close friend and teammate Kyrie Irving with his first pick while LeBron picked up another former All-Star captain in Stephen Curry. KD decided to go big and snapped up MVP candidate Joel Embiid as King James rode his luck to draft Luka Doncic. Durant followed it up by picking up another two-way giant in Kawhi Leonard.
Only Bradley Beal, Jayson Tatum and Nikola Jokic were left on the board now. LeBron chose another Western Conference superstar in Jokic as both Beal and Tatum fell to Team Durant. The process was repeated for the reserves with KD getting the chance to pick first this time.
Interestingly, the last two remaining names in the draft pool were Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. Both represent the Utah Jazz who currently have the best record in the league. LeBron had a cheeky take on the two Utah players getting left till the end. He said:
“I just want to say something, because there’s no slander to the Utah Jazz but you guys got to understand. Just like in video games growing up, we never played with Utah. Even as great as Karl Malone and John Stockton were, we never would have picked those guys. Never.”
Let us now look at the final roster for each team for the 2021 NBA All-Star Game.
NBA All-Star Game 2021: Team LeBron Lineup
Starters
- LeBron James (LA Lakers)
- Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks)
- Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors)
- Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks)
- Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets)
Reserves
- Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers)
- Ben Simmons (Philadelphia 76ers)
- Chris Paul (Phoenix Suns)
- Jaylen Brown (Boston Celtics)
- Paul George (LA Clippers)
- Domantas Sabonis (Indiana Pacers)
- Rudy Gobert (Utah Jazz)
NBA All-Star Game 2021: Team Durant Lineup
Starters
- Kevin Durant (Brooklyn Nets)*
- Kyrie Irving (Brooklyn Nets)
- Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers)
- Kawhi Leonard (LA Clippers)
- Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards)
- Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics)**
Reserves
- James Harden (Brooklyn Nets)
- Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns)*
- Zion Williamson (New Orleans Pelicans)
- Zach LaVine (Chicago Bulls)
- Julius Randle (New York Knicks)
- Nikola Vucevic (Orlando Magic)
- Donovan Mitchell (Utah Jazz)
- Anthony Davis (LA Lakers)***
- Mike Conley (Utah Jazz)
*Injured
**Promoted to starting lineup due to Durant's injury
***Injured, automatically assigned to Team Durant
Also read: NBA All-Star Game 2021: Channel, TV Schedule, Time & More