National Basketball Association (NBA) “living legend” LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers has achieved a league-record 20th consecutive All-Star Game selection.
The NBA announced the All-Star Game selections for the 2023-2024 season on its website today (Jan. 25).
James and the Los Angeles Lakers will be joined by Luka Doncic (Dallas), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City), Kevin Durant (Phoenix), and Nikola Jokic (Denver) from the Western Conference.
The captaincy was awarded to James, who led the Western Conference in fan voting with 5,098,872 votes.
James had started 19 consecutive All-Star Games dating back to last season.
Legendary center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who played for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers in the 1970s and 1980s, was tied for first in that category (19), but this year’s All-Star Game gives James a shot at the record.
The two are also tied for first on the all-time regular-season scoring list. James, who passed Abdul-Jabbar’s career total (38,387 points) during the 2022-2023 season, is first in that category (39,643 points).
“When you look at the history of other sports in the United States, it’s not often that a player is named an All-Star or similar category more than 20 times,” the NBA said. “James joins hockey’s Gordie Howe and baseball’s Three Musketeers (Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Stan Musial) on the list of 20+ All-Stars.”
Beginning this season, the NBA abandoned the practice of allowing the player who was voted captain to select players in the draft.
Instead, it will be a “traditional” All-Star game, with players selected from the East and West representing their respective conferences.
On the East team that will face off against the James-led West, Milwaukee ace Jahlil Adetokunbo, Joel Embiid (Philadelphia), Tyreese Halliburton (Indiana), Damian Lillard (Milwaukee) and Jayson Tatum (Boston) have been selected as starters.
The East captain is Adetokunbo, who received the most votes in the fan voting for both the East and West (5.47 million).
The NBA selected the starting lineup for the All-Star Game based on 50 percent fan voting and 25 percent player and media voting.
This season’s All-Star Game will be played on March 18 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, home of the Indiana Pacers.