The starting lineup for the NBA All-Star Game has been announced: LeBron James and Tyrese Haliburton's special lineup

LeBron James was selected to make his record 20th straight NBA All-Star Game, while hometown hero Tyrese Haliburton was selected to make his first appearance.

According to voting results released on TNT Thursday night for the Feb. 18 NBA Classic, which will be held at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Haliburton will represent the Pacers on their home court as the starting point guard for the East. He will be joined by his Milwaukee teammate Damian Lillard, Philadelphia center and NBA MVP Joel Embiid, Milwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo – who received the highest votes overall from fans – and Boston forward Jayson Tatum.

James will be joined in the West by Dallas guard Luka Doncic, Oklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Denver midfielder and NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokic, and Phoenix forward Kevin Durant, a 13-time All-Star who was not healthy at the time. February. Play in the actual game since 2019.

James, 39, the Lakers' star, the NBA's all-time leading scorer and the West's all-time leading scorer, has started every All-Star Game since 2005 and broke away from a tie with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the previous all-time record. -Star choices.

Like Haliburton, this will be Gilgeous-Alexander's first start and second All-Star appearance. Both Haliburton and James will miss their respective teams with nagging leg injuries, but hopefully they will be healthy enough to participate in the All-Star Game.

Fan voting made up 50 percent of the total number of starters. Player votes and media votes accounted for 25 percent each, respectively. The seven reserves for each conference, which will be announced on February 1, are selected by NBA coaches.

There have only been two close calls, the second point guard in each conference.

In the East, the Hawks' Trae Young bested all other guards in fan voting, while the Knicks' Jalen Brunson was selected to start by the media and the 76ers' Tyrese Maxey was selected by the players. The highest Lillard finished in any ballot was third (fans) and he finished tied with Brunson in total points – he played his eighth All-Star Game in a tiebreaker (more fan votes than Brunson).

In the West, fans chose Stephen Curry, the Warriors' all-time legend, over Gilgeous-Alexander, but it was the Canadian who received the most votes among the media and players.

Curry is, so far, a 9-time All-Star, and of the 8 All-Star games he played (he was injured last year), he started all 8. Entering Thursday, he was averaging 26.7 points and shooting 40.1 percent from 3-point range (also, he leads the league with 172 3s), but the Warriors are struggling mightily right now and the combination of stats and wins from Gilgeous-Alexander and Donjic. It was too much for Carrie to overcome.

The 73rd edition of the NBA's All-Star Game returns to the old format – last seen at the 2017 All-Star Game in New Orleans – for players playing in the East-West conferences, instead of being selected court-style by the top vote-getter. From every conference.

Additionally, the game will consist of four 12-minute quarters, like any normal game, rather than the “elam” scoring model of each team having an untimed fourth quarter to determine the winner, which has been in place since the 2020 game in Chicago.

Leaders still exist, again based on vote totals in each conference, so James will serve as captain for the seventh time in his career, seventh straight year overall, and sixth straight year outside of the West. Antetokounmpo will be captain for the third time.

Also, in keeping with recent tradition, the team with the highest points in each quarter will win money for a charity of its captain's choice.

Changes to the All-Star Game over the years were implemented to try to add a competitive edge and entertainment that the league (and fans and media) felt had been lost. After some initial success — the All-Star Games in 2020 and 2022 were better under the “Elam” scoring model — last year’s contest in Salt Lake City was such a failure that the league decided to return to its old model. With one caveat.

Simply play harder.

“All-Star Weekend has turned into an amazing weekend, which it is,” NBA Vice President Joe Dumars said in October. “But at the end of All-Star weekend, the game can't be an afterthought where the guys aren't playing (hard). We talked to the guys about putting on a great show last night, Sunday night, and going out and competing.”

Haliburton, who is out with a hamstring injury for the time being, is averaging a league-leading 23.6 points and 12.6 assists through 34 games this season. Last month, Haliburton became the third player in NBA history to score 20 consecutive points and provide 20 assists, joining Hall of Famers Magic Johnson and John Stockton.

“When you're 23 or 24, you want to keep pushing to higher levels, keep pushing yourself to higher levels,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said of Haliburton, a 23-year-old who last played for the USA Basketball National Team. From playing on the ground. summer. “These things lead to awards and high status, but they never stop. You can never exhale with things like that. … You can't look at it that way, and I don't see Tyrese looking at it that way. I think he has much bigger fish to fry when it comes to his commitment to… The organization, the city and what he wants to be a part of through the success of this team.

James, who is out with an ankle injury, is holding records for “greatest player ever” left and right. At present, he is averaging 24.8 points per game, which if it holds will be his lowest scoring average since his rookie year. But James, who turned 39 in December, still averages 7.4 assists and 7.2 boards. He ranks second on the Lakers in scoring behind Anthony Davis, who is having a stellar individual campaign (25.1 ppg, 12.2 rebounds per game) and is a virtual lock to be selected as an All-Star reserve.

Embiid leads the NBA in scoring, at 36.1 points per game, followed by Doncic (33.6 ppg), Antetokounmpo (31.3 ppg), and Gilgeous-Alexander (31.1 ppg). Gilgeous-Alexander leads the league with 32 games of 30 or more points.

Embiid is now a seven-time All-Star. Jokic has done it six times, and Doncic and Tatum are now five-time All-Stars.

Required reading

(Photo: Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)