LeBron James voted captain of All-Star Game for sixth-straight year

Since the NBA introduced the current format for the All-Star game that features a pair of captains drafting teams, LeBron James has never not been one of the two selected and 2023 will be no different. For the sixth-straight year, the Lakers star has been selected as an All-Star Game captain, the league announced on TNT on Thursday.

It is the 19th All-Star selection for James.

There was little doubt that the streak would continue this year, as LeBron had the most votes in the Western Conference by a comfortable margin in each return. The penultimate return saw his led stand at nearly two million votes in the conference and he was over 500k votes clear of Giannis Antetokounmpo for the outright most votes.

Anthony Davis was on track to start the game in all three of the early fan voting returns (50% of the vote to determine starters), but Zion Williamson passed him as the eventual starter from the West.

The only question left was who would be the opposing captain to LeBron with Steph Curry, Giannis and Kevin Durant holding that title throughout the last six years (Curry prior to James coming to the Western Conference). This season, it’ll be Giannis who returns as the opposing captain (for a third time) after a narrow victory in the Eastern Conference.

In previous years, the televised draft has created some incredible moments. This year could be even more dramatic as — while the draft won’t be televised in the weeks leading up to All-Star weekend — it’ll take place prior to the game itself as the league recently announced. The draft is slated to start at 4:30 p.m. Pacific, 30 minutes before the game itself will start.

The game will be on Feb. 19 in Salt Lake City. Reserves will be announced on Feb. 2 on TNT.

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