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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

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.

[RELATED: Community Shootaround: Eastern All-Stars]

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

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.

[RELATED: Community Shootaround: Western All-Stars]

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).

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Northwest Notes: Nurkic, Jokic, Green, Rubio, Conley

January 15th, 2021 at 11:31am CST by Luke Adams

A fractured right wrist may prevent Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic from earning a $1.25MM bonus this season, as Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter). Nurkic would earn that bonus if he plays in at least 62 games and Portland wins at least 44 games. Those thresholds are prorated downward from 70 and 50, respectively, to account for the 72-game season.

As we noted last night in our story on Nurkic’s injury, the Blazers do have an open spot on their 15-man roster and an open two-way contract slot, so they have options if they want to add depth up front with Nurkic and Zach Collins (ankle) both sidelined.

Portland is currently $1.87MM below the luxury tax line, according to Marks. Since two-way signings don’t count toward the tax and there’s no deadline to sign a player to a two-way deal this season, that option could appeal more to the Blazers.

Here’s more from around the Northwest:

  • Nuggets center Nikola Jokic raved about new teammate JaMychal Green after Thursday’s win over Golden State, as Alex Ladibou of Nuggets.com writes. “I’ve always said JaMychal is a guy I’d like to play with for the rest of my life,” Jokic said. “He is amazing.” A source tells Mike Singer of The Denver Post that Jokic expressed a similar sentiment privately to Green after the game.
  • Britt Robson of The Athletic feels the Timberwolves made a mistake by bringing Ricky Rubio back to Minnesota during the offseason, since Rubio’s style doesn’t mesh particularly well with D’Angelo Russell‘s. Minnesota has a -22.3 net rating so far this season when the two point guards share the court.
  • Mike Conley had a down year in his first season with the Jazz in 2019/20, but is now finding his comfort zone, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic. Conley, an unrestricted free agent in 2021, is averaging 17.3 PPG and 5.6 APG on .452/.430/.774 shooting in 11 games so far in ’20/21 after putting up just 14.4 PPG and 4.4 APG on .409/.375/.827 shooting last season.
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Nuggets Notes: Murray, Malone, Jokic, Grant

September 23rd, 2020 at 12:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

The ultra-resilient Nuggets may have changed the course of the Western Conference Finals with a Game 3 victory as Jamal Murray continued to add to his playoff reputation, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. Denver’s point guard had 28 points, eight rebounds and 12 assists and hit a pair of late 3-pointers to seal the win, and coach Michael Malone said Murray has reached a new level this season.

“Now I know every night what I’m getting from Jamal,” Malone said. “Last year, we knew what we were getting from Nikola (Jokic), but what kind of game would Jamal have. That’s no longer the case. We have two superstars in Nikola and Jamal.”

Murray is thriving in the Disney World environment, averaging 26.6 points, 6.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game since the postseason began. He told Sam Amick of The Athletic that he has a desire to “change the narrative” surrounding him and his team.

“The most important part (is) the energy I bring,” Murray said. “When I’m talking to my teammates, being the vocal leader, going up and down, pushing everyone, they tend to follow. It was fun to see them have a lot of fun today like they did.  We came up with the win. Hopefully we can keep that play up.”

There’s more on the Nuggets:

  • Dejan Milojevic, Jokic’s former coach in Serbia, always believed the big man would succeed in the NBA, according to Jackie MacMullan of ESPN. “There are many great players in the NBA league — superstars — but not many are making their teammates better,” Milojevic said. “That’s all that Nikola ever wanted. He enjoys passing more than scoring. That’s what separates him — the creativity.”
  • Jerami Grant, an unrestricted free agent this fall, has been making a difference for the Nuggets in the playoffs, observes Sean Keeler of The Denver Post. At 6’8″ with a 7’3″ wingspan, Grant has the versatility to guard several different types of opponents. He is affecting LeBron James and Anthony Davis in the conference finals, just like he bothered Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in the previous series. “Jerami, he’s been great for us, and we ask a lot from him,” teammate Monte Morris said. “He starts guarding LeBron. We know how (tough) LeBron is. He’s exerting so much energy on defense, you know, it was good to see him get going on offense. It gave us a great boost and it was much needed.”
  • Can the Nuggets stop the Lakers from winning the NBA title? Cast your vote in our poll.
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Lakers Notes: LeBron/Buss Dinner, WCF, AD, Lineup

September 18th, 2020 at 4:53pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Near the end of a rocky first season together, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss and All-Star LeBron James sat down for their first dinner together at Wally’s Beverly Hills in March 2019, alongside James’ agent Rich Paul and Lakers executive Linda Rambis. It was here that the foundation was laid for this season’s relatively drama-free Lakers run in 2019/20, per ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne.

“We’re committed to you and we’ll come out of this on top,” Paul told Buss during the dinner, according to a conversation with Shelburne. “We’ll come out of this different than what the world sees. Let the people who talk, talk. We just gotta do the work.”

Shelburne notes that forging this more personal bond helped stabilize the club.

There’s more out of Los Angeles:

  • The Lakers’ competition in the Western Conference Finals, the Nuggets, have earned the respect of Los Angeles’ marquee player, after coming back twice from 3-1 deficits in the 2020 playoffs, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “It takes a lot of energy, effort, a lot of desperation to be able to come back from a 3-1 deficit,” James said after a team practice today. “They did it twice. So the respect level is out of this world for what we have for this ball club.”
  • Lakers stars James and Anthony Davis have instilled a hardworking mindset that has proved effective this season among their teammates, per Mark Medina of USA Today. “They’ve been the rocks and heart and souls of our team all year,” power forward Kyle Kuzma said of LeBron and AD. “If we don’t do our jobs, they don’t have the success that they have.”
  • Los Angeles is ready to make lineup adjustments against the Nuggets to best handle Denver All-Star center Nikola Jokic, according to Tania Ganguli of the LA Times. Frank Vogel appeared to indicate that he’ll return to playing centers JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard, who got minimal run during the Lakers’ more speed-oriented attack against the Rockets during the semifinals. Forward Markieff Morris, a solid three-point shooter, started at center in McGee’s stead during most of the Houston series. “In terms of how much we’ll use our centers, I don’t want to get too much into detail, but obviously we’re gonna be the L.A. Lakers, who we’ve been all year,” Vogel said. Starting center McGee is currently on the first year of a two-season, $8.2MM contract with the team, while reserve Howard is on a one-year veteran’s minimum deal.
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NBA Announces 2019/20 All-NBA Teams

September 16th, 2020 at 2:14pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has officially announced its All-NBA teams for the 2019/20 season. Voting was completed prior to the league’s restart in July and was based on results through March 11.

Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and Lakers forward LeBron James, widely considered the two frontrunners for this year’s MVP award, were the only two players to be unanimously voted to the All-NBA First Team this season. Rockets guard James Harden, Lakers big man Anthony Davis, and Mavericks guard Luka Doncic rounded out the First Team.

The full All-NBA teams are listed below, with their vote totals in parentheses. Players received five points for a First Team vote, three points for a Second Team vote, and one point for a Third Team vote, so Giannis and LeBron scored a perfect 500 — First Team nods from all 100 voters.

All-NBA First Team

All-NBA Second Team

All-NBA Third Team

Among the players who just missed the cut were Bucks forward Khris Middleton (82 points), Sixers center Joel Embiid (79), Wizards guard Bradley Beal (32), and Raptors guard Kyle Lowry (26). A total of 11 other players also received at least one All-NBA vote — the full results can be found right here.

Today’s announcement is great news from a financial perspective for Siakam and Simmons. As a result of Siakam’s Second Team nod and Simmons’ Third Team spot, both players will earn starting salaries worth 28% of the 2020/21 salary cap, rather than 25%. Players who sign rookie scale extensions can earn maximum salaries up to 30% of the cap if they negotiate Rose Rule language into their deals.

The exact value of those new contracts will depend on where exactly the ’20/21 cap lands. Assuming it stays the same as in 2019/20 ($109.141MM), Siakam’s four-year extension would be worth $136.9MM instead of the $122.2MM it’d be worth if it started at 25% of the cap. Simmons’ five-year pact would be worth $177.2MM rather than $158.3MM.

While it’s also worth noting that All-NBA berths are of great importance to players seeking super-max contracts, there aren’t any real developments to report on that front as a result of this year’s votes. Antetokounmpo and Gobert remain eligible for super-max extensions, but they’d already qualified based on their previous accolades.

Embiid would have become super-max eligible in 2021 if he had earned an All-NBA spot, but he’ll need to make an All-NBA team next season to gain eligibility now, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets.

Hoops Rumors readers accurately picked 12 of this season’s 15 All-NBA players in our spring poll. Beal, Embiid, and Devin Booker were your picks who didn’t make the official list. Of the 12 who made it, 11 made the exact team you projected, with Paul (who made Second Team instead of Third Team) representing the only exception.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Western Notes: McGee, Jokic, Conley, Pelicans

September 7th, 2020 at 6:32pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Lakers could be without their starting center for Game 3 against the Rockets on Tuesday, according to the latest injury report on NBA.com. JaVale McGee is listed as questionable with a left ankle sprain. Reserve shooting guard Dion Waiters is considered doubtful due to a sore left groin.

We have more from around the Western Conference:

  • Nuggets center Nikola Jokic is listed as questionable for Game 3 tonight against the Clippers due to a sprained right wrist, according to an ESPN report. Jokic had 26 points and 18 rebounds in the Nuggets’ Game 2 win on Saturday. The Nuggets made no mention of the sprain after the game. The Nuggets will make a final determination on his status after warmups, Mike Singer of the Denver Post tweets.
  • The Jazz hope that Mike Conley settles in after a choppy first season with the organization and that will result in a longer playoff run, according to Sarah Todd of the Deseret News. Conley is expected to opt into the final year of his contract, worth $34.5MM, for next season. The point guard will be more comfortable in his second year with the club after learning a new system and reworking his game to fit the Jazz’s style, Todd adds.
  • The Pelicans could use a defensive wing and another shooter. The Athletic’s William Guillory explores some of the draft prospects who might fit the bill with the No. 13 overall pick.
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Northwest Notes: Lillard, Timberwolves, Nuggets

September 1st, 2020 at 2:14pm CST by Luke Adams

Damian Lillard‘s season came to an early end after he was diagnosed with a right knee sprain, which sidelined him for the end of the Trail Blazers‘ first-round series against the Lakers and forced him to leave the NBA’s campus for further evaluation.

Having undergone that re-evaluation, Lillard had the initial diagnosis of a “mild” sprain confirmed, according to Shams Charania of Stadium (video link), who reports that the Trail Blazers have no long-term concerns about their star point guard’s knee. He’ll be good to go for the start of next season.

Here’s more from around the Northwest:

  • Within a deep dive into the Timberwolves‘ draft decisions and offseason plans, Sam Vecenie of The Athletic says sources around the NBA expect president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas to “work the phones” to gauge the value of the No. 1 pick on the trade market. As Vecenie explains, that doesn’t mean the Wolves will move the pick, but the expectation is that Rosas doesn’t have a set timeline in mind for the club’s rebuild and will look to get as much value as possible out of the selection, whether that means trading it or selecting a player.
  • A handful of Nuggets players will get richer with a Game 7 win over Utah on Tuesday night, as Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. As Marks details, Nikola Jokic ($466K), Gary Harris ($350K), and Paul Millsap ($200K) will each receive bonuses if Denver advances to round two of the playoffs.
  • In case you missed it on Monday, we solicited your opinions and predictions on tonight’s Game 7 showdown between the Jazz and Nuggets. Our poll remains open, so be sure to make your picks for Game 7 before it tips off.
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Northwest Notes: Morgan, Millsap, Nuggets/Jazz Series, Draft

August 20th, 2020 at 9:18pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Defensive-oriented Jazz rookie swingman Juwan Morgan, who went undrafted in 2019 out of Indiana University, has already developed into a playoff starter for the West’s No. 6 seed. Tony Jones of The Athletic details Morgan’s journey.

After starting point guard Mike Conley left the NBA’s Orlando restart campus to attend the birth of his child, coach Quin Snyder elected to move All-Star Jazz shooting guard Donovan Mitchell to the point to make room for Morgan as the team’s starting power forward in their quarterfinals matchup with the Nuggets, currently knotted at 1-1.

“My main focus was the same thing any time I step on the floor,” Morgan said of his playoff debut as a starter. “I wanted to hustle hard, play defense, get offensive boards and block out. I wanted to do all the little things and then make life easier for all of the other guys.” Conley has since returned to Disney World and is probable to rejoin his Jazz teammates for tomorrow’s third game in the series.

There’s more out of the Northwest:

  • Veteran Nuggets power forward Paul Millsap needs to be relegated to the bench in favor of the more athletic Jerami Grant, Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post opines. Millsap is currently the team’s highest paid player earning $30.5MM this season on an expiring deal, but Kiszla sees the 35-year-old former All-Star as a liability to the team’s success in third-seeded Denver’s playoff quarterfinals series against the Jazz.
  • The outcome of the series between the Nuggets and the Jazz may be determined by which team can out-rebound the other, per Sarah Todd of the Deseret News. Because Nuggets All-Star center Nikola Jokic represents a threat to initiate his team’s offense or shoot from outside the paint, he draws his All-Star counterpart Rudy Gobert away from the basket, which leaves his Jazz teammates vulnerable to taller Nuggets players in the battle of the boards. “It’s really a point of emphasis for our team,” Gobert said. “Especially with the way [the Nuggets] crash the boards and the way my guys have been fighting. I need to go back out there and make sure I get those long rebounds.”
  • In case you missed it: The Timberwolves, who entered the NBA draft lottery with a 14% chance of moving up to take the top pick, will now draft first during the 2020 draft, as we detailed earlier tonight. Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball, James Wiseman, and Obi Toppin are among the most-coveted players ahead of this year’s draft. The Wolves last had the No. 1 draft pick in 2015, when the team selected future All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns.
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Nuggets Notes: Campus, Bol, Vonleh, Daniels

July 16th, 2020 at 8:59pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Nuggets have yet to relay to reporters exactly how many of their players are in Orlando, according to Kendra Andrews of The Athletic (Twitter link). Bench guard Troy Daniels indicated today that between eight and ten players are currently available to the team in the Disney World campus. Thus, there may be at least seven players who have yet to join the club.

Per reporting from Monday, Gary Harris, Michael Porter Jr., and Torrey Craig number among the absent players. To the relief of all Nuggets fans, Denver superstar Nikola Jokic, who tested positive for the coronavirus while in Serbia, has already rejoined the team in Orlando for the NBA’s season restart.

There are more notes from Denver:

  • Due to the aforementioned shorthanded Nuggets roster, 7’2″ rookie center Bol Bol, who has yet to log any time with Denver this season, may make his season debut during the NBA restart, according to Mike Singer of the Denver Post. Bol noted to reporters that he has been playing out of position during team practices due to the absences. “With not so many people, you can get placed anywhere,” Bol said. “There were some times, like today, I was playing at the three.”
  • Nuggets big man Noah Vonleh has new representation, says Singer (Twitter link). Vonleh will now be represented in all negotiations, marketing and publicity by Tandem Sports/You First Sports. Vonleh, a free agent this fall, was traded to Denver from the Timberwolves midseason, and has played sparingly (4.3 MPG) in four games for his new club.
  • New Nuggets sharpshooting guard Troy Daniels, inked to Denver just six days ahead of the league’s coronavirus-related pause, has enjoyed his tenure with the team in Orlando, according to Eric Spyropoulos of Nuggets.com. “It’s been a rollercoaster ride for me and this is an unprecedented time, so it’s tough to get used to it,” Daniels said. “But the guys have been great, coaches are great and everything’s been smooth for me.” The journeyman three-point specialist, who started the 2019/20 season with the Lakers, will be a deep-bench option on a loaded roster.
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Nikola Jokic Reports To Nuggets, Clears Quarantine

July 14th, 2020 at 4:27pm CST by Luke Adams

After a delay involving a positive coronavirus test and various travel complications, center Nikola Jokic has reported to the Nuggets at the Walt Disney World campus and has cleared quarantine, the team announced today (via Twitter). Jokic had been in his home country of Serbia before arriving in Florida.

Although Jokic has gone through his two-day quarantine period, he hasn’t yet been cleared to participate in practice, according to Chris Dempsey of Altitude Sports, who tweets that the big man is still waiting on results from “physical-type testing.” Jokic is watching the Nuggets’ Tuesday practice, Dempsey adds.

If the Nuggets – currently the No. 3 seed in the West – hope to make a deep playoff run, they’ll need Jokic at full health and full strength. The 25-year-old had been in the midst of another excellent season before the NBA went on hiatus, with averages of 20.2 PPG, 10.2 RPG, and 6.9 APG to go along with a .528 FG% in 65 games (32.3 MPG).

Jokic had been one of several Nuggets players whose arrival at the Disney campus had been delayed. A Monday report indicated that Gary Harris, Michael Porter Jr., Torrey Craig, and possibly Monte Morris aren’t there yet. However, there’s no indication that all of those players won’t eventually report and participate in the restart.

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