Shaquille O’Neal is reuniting former Warriors teammates Steph Curry and Kevin Durant as well as former Lakers LeBron James and Anthony Davis for next weekend’s NBA All-Star Game in San Francisco.
The All-Star draft was held Thursday night on TNT, with analysts O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley picking the teams. James was drafted No. 1, then O’Neal used his second choice (No. 5 overall) on Curry and his third pick (No. 9 overall) on Davis. James, a 21-time All-Star and Davis won a championship together with the Lakers in 2020, but Davis was shipped to Dallas in a stunning trade for Luka Doncic over the weekend.
O’Neal took Durant with the 14th overall pick, reuniting the Suns star with Curry. The pair won two titles together in Durant’s three seasons with the Warriors. In the days leading up to Thursday’s trade deadline it appeared Durant might be headed back to Golden State. But by Wednesday, according to ESPN insider Shams Charania, Durant expressed that he had no desire in a reunion with Golden State. Instead, the Warriors acquired Miami’s Jimmy Butler and giving him a two-year, $111 million contract extension.
Curry, Durant, Daivs and James teamed up last summer on Team USA and won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics. “Team Shaq” also includes Oakland’s Damian Lillard and former Cal star Jaylen Brown as well as Jayson Tatum (another Team USA member) and James Harden.
While the NBA considers one day having a U.S. vs. the World format for its midseason showcase, there will be a taste of what that could be at next weekend’s event as well.
For this All-Star Game — or games, as will be the case — the NBA made up a new format. Determined to try to make the event more competitive, the NBA turned the All-Star Game into a tournament: The 24 All-Stars were drafted onto one of three eight-man rosters.
Barkley went with players that all have international ties: Nikola Jokic of Serbia, Giannis Antetokounmpo of Greece, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Canada, Victor Wembanyama of France, Pascal Siakam of Cameroon, Alperen Sengun of Turkey, Karl-Anthony Towns (whose mother is Dominican) and Donovan Mitchell (whose mother is Panamanian).
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said last month that the league has thought about a U.S. vs. the World game — but noted it would be complicated to make the roster selection fair. If it was the traditional format, with 12-man rosters, it would be easier for international players to be declared All-Stars. About 70% of the players in the NBA are American; about 30% are international.
“It may be, to me, a little bit of an old-fashioned concept where we come in as Americans and say, ‘We’ll take on the world.’ I’m not sure how well that would be received by our international players,” Silver said. “We’re experimenting with a new format this year. I haven’t given up on All-Star still being competitive, entertaining games for the fans. That’s certainly not what we were (last) year.”
Last year’s game was the highest-scoring in All-Star history, a 211-186 final that was basically all 3-pointers and dunks.
This year’s All-Star will be a four-team tournament: the winner of the Rising Stars competition for first- and second-year players on Feb. 14 will be the fourth team in the All-Star event. There will be two semifinal games, then the winners will play for the All-Star championship — and the first team to 40 points in those games win.
The winning Rising Stars team that advances to the All-Star Game will be called Team Candace, for Candace Parker. The others will be Team Shaq, Team Kenny and Team Charles.
The following is a breakdown of the rosters, with the player’s overall pick spot in parentheses:
Team Shaq
LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers (1); Stephen Curry, Golden State (5); Anthony Davis, Dallas (9); Jayson Tatum, Boston (10); Kevin Durant, Phoenix (14); Damian Lillard, Milwaukee (18); James Harden, Los Angeles Clippers (19); Jaylen Brown, Boston (24).
Team Kenny
Anthony Edwards, Minnesota (2); Jalen Brunson, New York (6); Jaren Jackson Jr., Memphis (7); Jalen Williams, Oklahoma City (11); Darius Garland, Cleveland (15); Evan Mobley, Cleveland (16); Cade Cunningham, Detroit (20); Tyler Herro, Miami (23).
Team Charles
Nikola Jokic, Denver (3); Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee (4); Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City (8); Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio (12); Pascal Siakam, Indiana (13); Alperen Sengun, Houston (17); Karl-Anthony Towns, New York (21); Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland (22).
The Associated Press contributed to this report.