LeBron James is again a No. 1 pick, while Charles Barkley selected every foreign player available in the first-ever draft for Adam Silver’s inaugural NBA All-Star tournament.
In the NBA commissioner’s latest attempt to introduce more competition, effort and interest to the league’s signature midseason event, the traditional East-West All-Star Game has been replaced by a mini tournament on All-Star Sunday, Feb. 16 at the Chase Center in San Francisco, with three teams of eight players selected as All-Stars.
The draft, conducted live on TNT by analysts Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Barkley on Thursday night, began with O’Neal selecting James — who was the first pick of the 2003 NBA Draft and will make his NBA record 21st All-Star start. Smith followed by selecting Anthony Edwards with his first pick, and then Barkley launched his pursuit of every All-Star born outside of the U.S.
The Fellas’ picks are IN.
Who has the winning roster for #NBAAllStar weekend? ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/fpuD3MLEkC
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 7, 2025
There are six foreign All-Stars, and all of them, Nikola Jokić (Serbia), Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada), Victor Wembanyama (France), Pascal Siakam (Cameroon) and Alperen Şengün (Turkey) were selected, in order, by Barkley. For his last two picks, he selected Karl-Anthony Towns, who was born in New York but his mother was from the Dominican Republic and he plays in FIBA events for the DR. Barkley’s last selection was Donovan Mitchell, whose mother has Panamanian heritage.
“International guys aren’t going to play hard,” Smith said to Barkley, during the broadcast. “They’re world wide.”
Wembanyama, who is the tournament’s youngest All-Star at age 21, would disagree. Upon his selection last week, Wemby described his first All-Star appearance as “work” and said “I don’t have any interest in making friends.”
Joining James on O’Neal’s team is de facto All-Star host Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, who plays at the Chase Center. Also on Shaq’s squad are Anthony Davis, Jayson Tatum, Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard, James Harden and Jaylen Brown.
“My team, we’re definitely not losing to no youngsters or no Europeans, bet that,” O’Neal said to Barkley and Smith. “Name your price.”
James and Davis were separated this week by arguably the most shocking trade in NBA history, with Davis being dealt off the Lakers to Dallas for Luka Dončić. Curry and Durant used to be teammates, but Durant expressed a strong unwillingness to be traded back to Golden State this week. Lillard is the reigning All-Star MVP, and Brown, going back to the international discussion, was left off Team USA for the Olympics last summer and remains displeased about it.
There is only one player on Smith’s team who was voted a “starter” by fans, media and NBA players — a moot point now in the mini tournament because with three teams of stars, five “reserves” will have to start a game. Joining Edwards on Smith’s roster is Jalen Brunson (the only “starter”), Jaren Jackson Jr., Jalen Williams, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, Cade Cunningham and Tyler Herro.
Garland and Mobley are teammates in Cleveland, while Mobley, Williams, Cunningham and Herro are all first-time All-Stars.
“They’re going to play hard,” Smith said.
The new format will include three games — two semifinals and the championship — in which the winner is the first team to reach 40 or more points. There is a prize money pool of $1.8 million, with the champion team earning $125,000 per player. Each game is to be won by the first team to reach or surpass 40 points.
The fourth team in the All-Star tournament Sunday will be the winner of the Rising Stars Challenge on Feb. 14 — a three-game tourney featuring NBA rookies, sophomores and top G League players.
Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault and Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson will each coach a team, as will one of their assistants — though which teams they’ll coach was not immediately disclosed.
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(Photo: Justin Casterline / Getty Images)
