Lakers guard Luka Doncic was voted an NBA All-Star Game starter for a fifth time. LeBron James didn't make the cut, but he could be named a reserve.
Lakers guard Luka Doncic was voted as a Western Conference starter for the NBA’s All-Star team, becoming the 15th player in NBA history to earn six all-star selections before the age of 27.
Doncic, who received his fifth starting nod, leads the league in scoring (33.3), is fourth in assists (8.6), is making 46.4% of his shots and is hitting 33.7% of his three pointers.
He received the most votes of the All-Stars with 3,402,967.
The other West starters are Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Denver’s Nikola Jokic and San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama.
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The Eastern Conference starters are Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, who received the most votes in the East and the second-most in the league (3,218, 390); Boston’s Jaylen Brown; New York’s Jalen Brunson; Detroit’s Cade Cummingham; and Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey.
The All-Stars were selected by fans, players and media votes with obligation to fill specific positions on each roster.
Lakers forward LeBron James was not voted as a starter, but he still has a chance to be a reserve when the NBA coaches pick the reserves later this month.
James has been named an All-Star team starter an NBA-record 21 times, eight times as a Laker.
He missed the first 14 games of the season recovering from a sciatica injury, but has been playing at a high level since his return.
James is averaging 22.6 points per game, 6.9 assists and 5.9 assists in his NBA-record 23rd season.
Lakers guard Austin Reaves had been playing at an All-Star level, averaging career-high in points (26.6) points, assists (6.3) and rebounds (5.2) and his shooting 50.7 percent from the field and 36.5 percent from three-point range, but he has missed the 12 games with a left calf strain.
The All-Star game will be played at the Clippers’ home arena, the Intuit Dome, on Feb. 15. It no longer will feature an East versus West matchup.
The new format will be a three-team tournament that will feature two U.S. teams and one world team from the total of 24 players selected.
The U.S. will have 16 players and the world will have eight, of which Doncic will be on because he is from Slovenia.
The teams then play a round-robin of 12-minute games, with the top two teams advancing to the final 12-minute championship game.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Category: General Sports
