When and where is the NBA All Star Game? date, times, schedule and location
The 2021 All-Star Game is due to be held in Atlanta after being canceled before the season with Indianapolis originally due to host the event.
The 2021 All-Star Game will be held in Atlanta at the home of the Atlanta Hawks, the State Farm Arena, on 7 March 2021 after the original schedule for the showpiece was changed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier in February, the NBA and NBA Players Association elected to go ahead with the event and move it from Indianapolis after the 2021 All-Star Game had originally been canceled due to concerns over covid-19. The Pacers were awarded the 2024 All-Star Game following that decision. The reasoning behind selecting Atlanta to host the 2021 edition is that TNT, which holds the rights to broadcast the event, is based there, minimizing the need for travel.
LeBron James and Kevin Durant currently enjoy a healthy lead in the fan voting after the second round as conference frontcourt leaders with Stephen Curry and Bradley Beal on top in the guards voting. Players including Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, Anthony Davies, Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo are expected to make the final cut in their respective conferences.
2021 All-Star schedule
The precise details for the 2021 All-Star Game are still being hammered out between the NBA and the Players Association but according to reports from Shams Charamia of the Athletic and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the NBA is planning to hold the fan-favorite 3-point competition and Skills Challenge before the main event with the ever-popular highlight of All-Star Weekend, the Dunk Contest, taking place at halftime as the organizers seek to condense all the All-Star components into a single day.
It remains to be seen if the Celebrity All-Star Game will take place but open practice sessions originally planned for the Indianapolis event are unlikely to go ahead in Atlanta given covid-19 concerns.
All-Star voting still open
Voting for the 2021 All-Star game rosters remains open until 11:59pm ET on Tuesday, 16 February, with all votes cast on the final day of voting counting double. Visit the official NBA website to cast your vote for the All-Star line-up.
All-Star controversy
The NBA’s insistence on plowing ahead with the 2021 All-Star Game has not met with universal approval. LeBron James called the decision to stage the event a “slap in the face” and said he had “zero energy and zero interest” in this year’s game.
“I'll be there physically [if I'm selected], but not mentally," the LA Lakers star added. “I don't even know why we're having an All-Star Game."
According to an SB Nation survey, a majority of fans also feel that holding an All-Star Game in the middle of a pandemic is not in everybody’s best interests. A number of younger NBA players including Nikola Jokic and De’Aaron Fox have questioned the decision, with the latter describing it as “kind of stupid.”