2023 NBA All-Star Game Roster Announcement Taken: LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo named team captains.

With more than half of the 2022-23 season in the books and the All-Star Game approaching, it’s time to name the starters for the league’s midseason exhibition. Those starters are decided by a split vote between fans (50 percent), media (25 percent) and players (25), and on Thursday those starters were announced on TNT with help from the Ernst & Young accounting firm. The following 10 players were selected, with two guards and three frontcourt players from each conference.

Players are selected by conference, but teams are not assigned that way. For the sixth year in a row, the leaders of each conference will make their voting teams, and for the sixth year in a row, James is leading one of the two teams. His counterpart Giannis Antetokounmpo will be named the game’s second captain for the third time.

With the starters now announced, we can look ahead to February 2 when the backups will be revealed. Unlike in recent years, the All-Star Game Draft will be held prior to the game on February 19th at 7:30 pm ET.

There are three main ways here

1. Team LeBron vs Team Giannis Part III

Since the league moved to the captains’ vote in 2018, only four players have received the honor: LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry. James has done it six years, while Antetokounmpo has done it three, making Team LeBron vs. Team Giannis the most common matchup we’ve seen.

While deciding the starters is a somewhat complicated process, with each player assigned a weighted score based on a combination of fan, media and player votes, picking the captains is pretty easy. The player with the most fan votes in each conference gets the gig.

The last time these two captains played was in 2016. In 2020, that’s the year the league began using the Elam Ending format, where instead of using a clock, teams would play with the final score in the fourth quarter. Team LeBron won on a pair of free throws by Anthony Davis around that time; This year’s competition is just as exciting.

2. Embiid is frustrated

Heading into Thursday night, one of the questions will be which Eastern Conference frontcourt player will be out of the starting lineup? The top four players in the conference are all forwards or centers, but only three have the starting frontcourt positions.

They went to Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant and Jayson Tatum, leaving Joel Embiid as the odd man out. That said, Embiid averaged 33.4 points (second in the league), 9.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.7 blocks per game, and the Sixers finished second in the East at 31-16.

The problem with Embiid is that all the other guys have incredible numbers and play on great teams as well. Antetokounmpo is putting 31/12/5.6; Durant at 29.7/6.7/5.3; Tatum is going for 31/8.6/4.4. The Bucks are third in the East, the Nets are fourth and the Celtics are first.

One argument is that Embiid has missed 12 games this season, but even Antetokounmpo has sat for 11 and Durant has sat for eight. Tatum is the only one who hasn’t had any injury problems this season. This ultimately comes down to Embiid’s bad luck playing in the same era and in the same conference as three incredible talents.

3. LeBron makes more history

The main story on Thursday is that LeBron James will become the All-Star for the sixth year in a row after receiving the highest number of fan votes in the West. But he won his 19th consecutive All-Star game with the honor, moving him to another spot on the all-time list.

Overall, he passed Kobe Bryant on the all-time All-Star Game watch list and is now tied with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most in NBA history. He is also the first player to make 19 consecutive All-Star appearances. Abdul Jabbar was divided into two because he did not do it in 1978.

It’s only fitting that James now gets Abdul-Jabbar for the Abdul-Jabbar All-Star Tour. If all goes according to plan, James will have that sign a few weeks before everyone heads to Salt Lake City.