Atlanta (AP) – Notwithstanding the criticism of many professionals such as superstar LeBron James, this year’s all-star game of the best basketball players in the world will take place on March 7th in Atlanta.
The North American professional league NBA confirmed the date and a little later also announced the ten professionals who will be listed as starting players. James has been elected for the 17th time in his career and is a professional with the most votes in the Western Conference, capturing Team LeBron. Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets got the most votes in the Eastern Conference and is accordingly captain of “Team Durant”.
Only Kobe Bryant (18) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (19) were voted into the All-Star Team more often than James from the Los Angeles Lakers.
The eight other pros are Steph Curry (Golden State Warriors), Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks), Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets) and Kawhi Leonard (Los Angeles Clippers) in the Western and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks), Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards) , Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers) and Kyrie Irving (Brooklyn Nets) to the east. In Durant and Irving, the Nets are the only NBA team to have two professionals among the starting players.
In addition to other professionals, James had criticized the planning in early February. “I have zero energy and zero enthusiasm for an all-star game this season,” said the 36-year-old. He doesn’t understand why this game exists, given the short break for the professionals between the end of last season and the start of this season. In addition, one is still in the middle of the corona pandemic. “I’ll be there physically, but not mentally,” announced James.
As the NBA announced, 2.5 million US dollars (around 2.1 million euros) will be donated. The money is to go to universities, which are originally training centers for African-Americans. Campaigns in the fight against the corona virus are also to be financed.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210218-99-500421 / 3
– .
