February 7 is shaping up to be an eventful day on the NBA calendar this season. Already the date of the 2018/19 trade deadline (at 2:00pm central time), Thursday, February 7 will also be the day on which the NBA televises an All-Star draft for the first time.
The league confirmed today in a press release that the 2019 All-Star draft will air on TNT on February 7, starting at 6:00pm CT. As was the case last season, the top vote-getter in each conference will be an All-Star captain, and will draft a squad of four starters from a pool of eight players selected by fans, players, and media members. The captains will subsequently select seven players apiece from a 14-player pool of All-Stars named by NBA coaches.
This year’s All-Star starters will be announced on January 24, with the remaining All-Stars revealed on January 31. Based on the latest voting results, released today by the NBA, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo project to be the All-Star captains this season — LeBron (3,770,807 votes) is ahead of Luka Doncic by about 469,000 votes in the West, while Giannis (3,626,909 votes) leads Kyrie Irving in the East by approximately 440,000 votes.
This is the second time the NBA has used this All-Star format. James and Stephen Curry were captains last season, but the draft was conducted privately. After talking things over with the players, the NBA has decided to make that event public this time around, which should make for an entertaining broadcast.
Eventually, they’ll realize what the NFL did, that conference teams are the way to go instead of playground stuff.
I’m not realizing it either. i.e. Huh?
Umm what? The Probowl is an awful event
its worth mentioning that is you were a captain last year (LeBron, Steph), you cant be a captain again this year. Based on the 3rd returns released today that would make Doncic and Giannis captains.
Don’t think there’s any rule about that: link to twitter.com
I wasn’t aware of it either nor have I seen it in writing but I heard Windhorst mention it in a podcast a couple weeks ago. Windhorst is usually very careful with what he says on pods so I have reason to believe he was reporting a known truth.
Hmm, besides Howard Beck repeatedly stressing that there’s no rule about it, Rachel Nichols reported the same thing a couple months ago: link to twitter.com
I suppose it’s possible they’re both wrong, but if that were the case, I’d think the NBA would have made it clearer, with ASG voting now almost over.
The TV talking heads will be gearing up for that day!