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2021 NBA All-Star Game Starters Revealed

February 18th, 2021 at 6:22pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The NBA has revealed its 2021 All-Star Game starters. Here are those names:

Eastern Conference

G Kyrie Irving, Nets
G Bradley Beal, Wizards
F/C Kevin Durant, Nets
F/C Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks
F/C Joel Embiid, Sixers

After missing all of the 2019/20 season while he recovered from a ruptured Achilles tendon, Durant is making his triumphant return to the All-Star Game. In his first appearance as a Brooklyn player, the 11-time All-Star will captain a team, having led the Eastern Conference in fan votes.

This is the seventh All-Star appearance for Durant’s teammate Irving. Antetokounmpo, the reigning two-time MVP, has just made his fifth All-Star game. A frontrunner for the 2021 MVP award, Embiid is appearing in his fourth such contest. Beal will be making his first All-Star start after playing as a reserve in the 2018 and 2019 All-Star contests. The Wizards are the No. 13 seed in the East.

Western Conference

G Stephen Curry, Warriors
G Luka Doncic, Mavericks
F/C LeBron James, Lakers
F/C Nikola Jokic, Nuggets
F/C Kawhi Leonard, Clippers

James, who was the top vote-getter in the Western Conference and the entire NBA with 5,922,554 fan votes, will again be a team captain. He will be suiting up for his 17th All-Star appearance, the third-most ever behind only fellow Laker legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (19 appearances) and Kobe Bryant (18). James was previously tied for making the third-most cumulative All-Star contests alongside Hall of Fame Nets and Sixers wing Julius Erving, who was selected into five ABA All-Star games and 11 NBA All-Star games.

Jokic, an early top MVP contender along with James and Embiid, will earn his first All-Star start in his third appearance in the game. Curry will partake in his seventh All-Star contest, while Leonard has just been voted into his fifth All-Star game.

Doncic barely edged out Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard to be the second All-Star guard next to Curry among the starters, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweets. Despite extended absences from starters CJ McCollum, Jusuf Nurkic, and Zach Collins, the Blazers boast an 18-10 record, good for the No. 4 seed in the crowded West, largely thanks to Lillard. The Mavericks, meanwhile, are 13-15, the No. 10 seed in the West.

As was the case during the last two years, the top vote-getters of each conference will captain a team, and will be able to draft players from either conference. The “Elam Ending,” which made the conclusion of last year’s game much more entertaining than it had been in recent years, is set to return again this year.

Earlier today, the league officially announced that the 2021 All-Star Game is set to take place at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, as a one-night event on March 7. The evening will also include its three All-Star weekend mainstay events: the Skills Competition, the Three-Point Contest and the Dunk Contest.

A full list of fan voting totals is viewable at this Twitter link, courtesy of Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. The complete voting breakdown by position and conference, including media and player votes, can be found at the bottom of this press release.

The league will announce the 14 players who will comprise the All-Star reserves on Tuesday, February 22, at 7 p.m. ET, per Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press (via Twitter).

California Notes: Looney, Wiseman, Lakers, Santa Cruz Warriors

February 17th, 2021 at 7:49pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Warriors center Kevon Looney, sidelined since spraining his left ankle in a February 2 loss to the Celtics, has rejoined the Warriors for “segments of practice” and is planning on suiting up with the club during Golden State’s impending road trip, per Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link).

Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chronicle details the import of the big man’s return to the lineup in a new piece. “I always joked that I never hurt my ankle,” Looney said after incurring the injury. “I guess karma caught up with me.”

There’s more out of California:

Warriors rookie center James Wiseman, out with a left wrist injury suffered on January 30, rejoined Golden State for practice on Tuesday, according to Kendra Andrews of NBC Sports Bay Area. The No. 2 overall draft pick out of Memphis, Wiseman has a chance to return to the court for the Warriors as soon as Friday against a depleted Magic team. “With a sprained wrist you don’t know if it will be one week, two weeks or three, so I’m just following each procedure, but there are no setbacks,” Wiseman said.
The Lakers are seeing their frontcourt depth tested with the extended absence of All-Star power forward/center Anthony Davis, according to Bill Oram of The Athletic. Kyle Kuzma has taken over starting duties, and reigning Sixth Man of the Year Montrezl Harrell is seeing expanded minutes as a super-sub. Starting center Marc Gasol and reserve power forward Markieff Morris have also seen more run in the rotation.
Warriors.com spoke to Santa Cruz Warriors broadcaster Kevin Dana about how Golden State’s G League affiliate team is adjusting to life in the 2021 NBAGL Orlando “bubble.” Dana lauded the output thus far of young prospects Nico Mannion and Jordan Poole.

Pistons Notes: Griffin, Youth Movement, Ellington, Wright

February 16th, 2021 at 9:15pm CST by Dana Gauruder

It’s hard to imagine a trade scenario for Blake Griffin, according to a number of staff members on The Athletic. Griffin’s max salary and declining play make it nearly impossible to deal him. Griffin, who will reportedly sit until the Pistons can find a trade partner or buy him out, is a shell of his former All-Star self after multiple knee surgeries, as the story points out his inability to dunk and block shots any longer. The Celtics, Trail Blazers, Nets, Warriors, Lakers, Bucks, Kings and Spurs are all mentioned as possible destinations if Griffin is bought out.

We have more on the Pistons:

If Griffin is able to pick his next destination, the situation will be a win-win for both him and the Pistons, Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press writes. GM Troy Weaver can continue to chart his own course with his multi-year rebuilding plan and the team’s younger players, like Eastern Conference Player of the Week Saddiq Bey, can get extended playing time.
Griffin deserves to be remembered fondly by Detroit fans, James Edwards of The Athletic opines. Griffin led the team to the playoffs two seasons ago and continually played through injuries and pain. He showed the city’s trademark grit, diving for loose balls, barking at opponents and taking charges. Griffin gave everything he could to the team until his body betrayed him, Edwards adds.
Given his age and early-season production, Wayne Ellington is the most logical player to be traded, Edwards writes in a separate piece. The Pistons might be able to flip the veteran shooting guard for a second-round pick. Delon Wright‘s versatility to play both guard positions could also make him an attractive trade target. The Sixers are one of the teams reportedly interested in Wright.

Anthony Davis Out At Least 2-3 Weeks Due To Calf Strain

February 15th, 2021 at 5:00pm CST by Luke Adams

5:00pm: Davis did not have a rupture in his right Achilles tendon, according to a team press release. Wojnarowski notes (via Twitter) that today’s MRI did confirm a re-aggravation of Davis’ Achilles tendinosis in addition to his calf strain.

3:53pm: After undergoing an MRI, Davis has been diagnosed with a right calf strain and will be re-evaluated in two or three weeks, a source tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Woj adds (via Twitter) that the Lakers and Davis will take a conservative approach to his return, which could happen after the All-Star break.

8:32am: After missing two games last week due to right Achilles tendinosis, Lakers star Anthony Davis aggravated that issue during Sunday’s loss to the Nuggets when he bumped legs with Nikola Jokic, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes.

Davis, who was forced to leave the game early, was diagnosed with a right Achilles strain and will undergo an MRI on Monday after the Lakers arrive in Minnesota for Tuesday’s game against the Wolves, according to the team. The 27-year-old said he felt “completely fine” earlier in the day on Sunday, but is now waiting on further testing to confirm the diagnosis and to get a sense of his return timeline.

“I mean, you kind of learn a lot from the MRI, so kind of just waiting on that,” Davis said on Sunday night, per McMenamin. “Obviously, the doctors don’t want to rule out anything and then it’s something, or say it’s something, then it’s not. But they say everything looks good, but you still want the MRI just to make sure.”

We’ll have to wait for an official update from the Lakers following that MRI, but one expert who spoke to Jovan Buha of The Athletic speculated that the club may play it safe by giving Davis “multiple weeks” to fully recover. The Lakers’ big man sounds hopeful he’ll be back sooner than that, but acknowledged that a cautious approach is the right one with any Achilles issue.

“I do put a lot of pressure on myself to go out there and play. If I feel I can go out there and play, I will, Davis said. “… But this one is a little different that I definitely have to be smart with. I don’t want to go out there and try to play and risk it for the long term. So, all that is inclusive of what the MRI shows. Knock on wood, it’s great information — and I’ll be out there sooner than later.”

Kyle Kuzma figures to be first in line for an increased role if Davis misses time.

Charania’s Latest: Nets, Roberson, Ball, Simons, Faried

February 15th, 2021 at 2:39pm CST by Luke Adams

Before they signed veteran swingman Iman Shumpert in an effort to improve their wing defense, the Nets considered longtime Thunder forward Andre Roberson, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic. According to Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Twitter link), the Nets’ interest in Roberson wasn’t just cursory — the team actually worked him out before signing Shumpert.

Roberson, who is limited on offense but has a reputation as a defensive stopper, returned last August during the NBA’s summer restart after having missed over two full years due to knee issues. However, his contract expired at season’s end and he has yet to catch on with a new NBA team. Given how many of Brooklyn’s end-of-roster players have non-guaranteed salaries, it’s possible the Nets could open up a spot and circle back to Roberson later in the season, as Lewis notes.

Here’s more from Charania:

The Raptors and Nets – who were both mentioned by Charania as possible Andre Drummond suitors via trade or buyout – are viewed as two teams in the market for frontcourt help. Charania suggests the Mavericks, Lakers, and Trail Blazers are among the clubs likely to join that list.
Charania confirms that the Bulls have some interest in Pelicans guard Lonzo Ball, but says the two teams haven’t engaged in any dialogue about a possible trade.
Rival teams are keeping an eye on Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons, according to Charania. There’s no indication Portland has interest in moving Simons, but other clubs may envision a larger scoring and play-making role for him than he has in Portland, where he backs up an All-NBA point guard.
Veteran big man Kenneth Faried, 31, is working out in Los Angeles and hopes to make an NBA comeback, per Charania.

LeBron, Kuzma Get Flopping Warnings

February 13th, 2021 at 6:36pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Lakers‘ LeBron James and Kyle Kuzma both received warnings for flopping in Friday’s game against the Grizzlies, the NBA announced on its website.

L.A. Notes: Davis, Vogel, Zubac, Ballmer

February 13th, 2021 at 5:06pm CST by Arthur Hill

Anthony Davis missed two games this week because of Achilles tendinosis, but the Lakers star doesn’t expect it to be a long-term concern, writes Jovah Buha of The Athletic. After returning to the lineup with a 35-point performance Friday, Davis explained to reporters how the injury is affecting him.

“It felt great going into the game,” he said. “But as you play, I’m always using that Achilles tendon. It got sore towards the end from just constantly moving on it. But it felt great coming into the game, felt great throughout the game, but late game it was kind of bothering me a little bit. I felt like we had the game in hand when I was able to — and Coach felt that way — when I was able to sit down the last two and a half (minutes).”

Davis added that doctors told him the pain isn’t coming directly from the Achilles tendon, but from an adjacent body part in the same area of the leg. He said the quickest way to recover is through rest, but he doesn’t want to sit out a lot of games in a row.

“The doctors and training staff feel comfortable enough for me to go out there and perform as well,” Davis said. “So it’s something that’s gonna continue to get better. (I’m) constantly doing treatment on it throughout the day, throughout the night, and wearing stuff in my shoes to help out the pain level and wearing tape and all these things to make it feel better throughout the course of time, and basically, I’m very — I’m able to just go out there and play and not worry about it.”

There’s more from Los Angeles:

After trimming his rotation during the week, Lakers coach Frank Vogel expanded it to 10 players Friday with the return of Davis and Alex Caruso, Buha adds in the same story. Vogel called it “impossible decisions” to determine what to do with Wesley Matthews and Markieff Morris when the full team is healthy, noting that both of them “deserve to be in the rotation.”
The Clippers lost Sixth Man of the Year Montrezl Harrell, but their bench remains among the most productive in the league, according to Mirjam Swanson of The Orange County Register. One of the new components is center Ivica Zubac, who was a starter last season. “I am just in a space where I want Zu to be great,” said reserve guard Lou Williams. “I want to push him, I want to challenge him to be the best player that he can be and at the same time, we can feed off each other’s success and continue to build.”
Seattle will be at the top of the list whenever the NBA decides to expand, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer said on a Clubhouse podcast.

Kuzma Has No Qualms About Extension

February 13th, 2021 at 2:21pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma signed a three-year, $40MM rookie scale extension in December. All other players who signed similar extensions before the season got bigger contracts but Kuzma has no regrets, according to Bill Oram of The Athletic.

“Of course, guys got paid,” the Lakers forward said, “and obviously as a competitor of who you are as a player, you always look at things like that. But at the end of the day, I love the situation that I’m in. … I know a lot of guys that are making $20, $23, $24 million and they’re not really that happy because they go to work every day, you may not be winning, you have to deal with certain other things. For me, I’m happy.”

Anthony Davis Playing It Safe With Achilles Injury

February 12th, 2021 at 11:09am CST by Luke Adams

Lakers star Anthony Davis, who has missed the last two games due to right Achilles tendonosis, is content to play it safe with the injury to avoid the risk of making it worse, as ESPN’s Dave McMenamin writes. “I just don’t want to play a game where I still feel it and then get hurt and now I’m out for the playoffs or whatever or for multiple weeks,” Davis said.

Forbes Releases 2021 NBA Franchise Valuations

February 10th, 2021 at 10:04am CST by Luke Adams

It has been an up-and-down 12 months for the NBA, which had to pause its operations for several months when its players first began testing positive for the coronavirus last March. Although the league was eventually able to play the 2020 postseason and is in the midst of its (slightly-abridged) 2020/21 regular season, fans still haven’t been able to return to arenas in many NBA cities, putting a major dent in projected revenues for the coming year.

Despite the financial challenges faced by many of the NBA’s teams, the overall value of those franchises continues to increase, according to a report from Kurt Badenhausen and Mike Ozanian of Forbes. While it’s the most modest year-over-year rise since 2010, Forbes estimates that average team values are up by about 4% from 2020.

The Knicks have become the first franchise to earn a $5 billion valuation from Forbes, with a league-high 9% increase in their value since last February. The Warriors, meanwhile, also saw their value rise by 9%, according to Forbes, surpassing the Lakers for the No. 2 spot on the annual report. The league-wide average of $2.2 billion per team in 2021 is a new record for Forbes’ valuations.

Forbes’ valuations are slightly more conservative than the ones issued by sports-business outlet Sportico last month — Sportico’s report featured an average team value of nearly $2.4 billion, with the Knicks, Warriors, and Lakers all surpassing the $5 billion threshold.

Here’s the full list of NBA franchise valuations, per Forbes:

New York Knicks: $5 billion
Golden State Warriors: $4.7 billion
Los Angeles Lakers: $4.6 billion
Chicago Bulls: $3.3 billion
Boston Celtics: $3.2 billion
Los Angeles Clippers: $2.75 billion
Brooklyn Nets: $2.65 billion
Houston Rockets: $2.5 billion
Dallas Mavericks: $2.45 billion
Toronto Raptors: $2.15 billion
Philadelphia 76ers: $2.075 billion
Miami Heat: $2 billion
Portland Trail Blazers: $1.9 billion
San Antonio Spurs: $1.85 billion
Sacramento Kings: $1.825 billion
Washington Wizards: $1.8 billion
Phoenix Suns: $1.7 billion
Utah Jazz: $1.66 billion
Denver Nuggets: $1.65 billion
Milwaukee Bucks: $1.625 billion
Oklahoma City Thunder: $1.575 billion
Cleveland Cavaliers: $1.56 billion
Indiana Pacers: $1.55 billion
Atlanta Hawks: $1.52 billion
Charlotte Hornets: $1.5 billion
Orlando Magic: $1.46 billion
Detroit Pistons: $1.45 billion
Minnesota Timberwolves: $1.4 billion
New Orleans Pelicans: $1.35 billion
Memphis Grizzlies: $1.3 billion

While most franchise values increased, that wasn’t the case across the board. The Thunder, Hawks, Hornets, Pistons, Pelicans, and Grizzlies all maintained the same value that they had in 2020. No teams decreased in value, however.

The Jazz had the biggest rise in the bottom half of this list, moving from 21st in 2020’s rankings to 18th this year. That’s because the team was actually sold to a new majority owner in recent months, with Ryan Smith assuming control of the franchise at its new $1.66 billion valuation.

As that Jazz example shows, the actual amount a team is sold for often exceeds Forbes’ valuation, so these figures should just be viewed as estimates.