NBA All-Star rosters won’t be picked until game night

The NBAAll-Star Game is Feb. 19. And nobody will know the All-Star rostersuntil that night.

Not eventhe players themselves.

The teamcaptains — probably LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers andeither Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo or Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant— will make their picks in a live, televised pregame segmentshortly before the game begins in Salt Lake City.

The NBA andthe National Basketball Players Association announced the formatchange on Tuesday night.

This willbe the sixth time that the league has used the format wherecaptains choose their teams, but in each of the first fiveinstances the rosters were selected several days before thegame.

Thecaptains and starters will be announced on Thursday.

James hasbeen a captain in each of the first five years and, based on theresults of voting released by the league late last week, isvirtually certain to be one again this year. The leadingvote-getter from both the Eastern and Western Conference earns theright to be a captain.

Durant wasthe early leader among East players, then fell slightly behindAntetokounmpo in the most recent balloting. He’s still expected tobe selected as a starter, and it won’t be known until Thursday ifhe reclaimed the East voting lead in the final days.

Ballots todecide the starters were due Saturday.

“I want toplay,” Durant told reporters in New York on Tuesday. “I want to bea part of all these events.”

James’teams are 5-0 in All-Star games when he is a captain.

Durant hasbeen a captain as the East’s voting leader in each of the past twoyears. Antetokounmpo was in the previous two years, 2019 and2020.

The topthree frontcourt players and top two guards in each conference willbe chosen as starters, with the leading overall vote-getters fromeach conference serving as captains and choosing their teams.

Fan votingcounts for 50% of the starters balloting, a media ballot counts for25% and the ballots turned in by NBA players count for the other25%.

Reserves —chosen by NBA coaches, seven players from each conference — will berevealed Feb. 2.