NBA All-Star 2021 draft: Team LeBron vs Team Durant - line-up, starters and reserves

NBA All-Star 2021 venue

Here we get a quick glimpse of where we'll be on Sunday. And here's some more information on the stadium:

Opened: 18 September 1999 (renovated: 2017-18)

Renaming: as State Farm Arena on 29 August 2018

Home team: Atlanta Hawks

Capacity: 16,600

Center hung: The Hawks center hung main video board adds up to a massive 4,477 square feet of active video display.  The 360-degree screen wraps 80.67 feet around and measures 27.75 feet high

Bulls' Lavine into Team Durant

Warriors happy for their Curry

LeBron-Curry line-up

The combination of captain James along with probably the greatest NBA shooter of all-time is something that many are looking forward to seeing. Curry is all set for yet another season hitting a game average of over 10 three-pointers.

Right now he's sitting at 11.7 threes per game...and he's making 40% of them!

LeBron responds to late Jazz pickd

This was arguably the quote of the night and is getting plenty of attention on social media.

NBA All-Star picks: social media reactions

Let's have a look around and see what people have been saying about the picks for Team LeBron and Team Durant...

"That's a good one right there"

Devin Booker got the nod from KD and the reaction from LeBron was perfect.

Watch it unfold...

NBA All-Star Game 2021

We now know the two teams for the All Star Game, which will be played at State Farm Arena, the home arena of the Atlanta Hawks, on Sunday 7 March. As you'd expect we'll be all over it and bringing you the game live.

It will be a smaller format than in previous years: the normal three days down to just one, due to the coronavirus pandemic, which already reduced the regular league season from 82 to 72 games, but we will still be able to enjoy the slam dunk, three-point and skills contests ahead of this tantalising All-Star Game.

LEBRON JAMES

LeBron releases first sneak-peak photos of new Space Jam movie

No Space Jamming

Disappointingly for some, Lebron was not asked by the guys about the new film. He has already spoken about it though...

"It's one of the biggest games, if not the biggest game, I've ever played in," the LA Lakers Star told EW. "The Goon Squad is probably the best team ever assembled in basketball history."

Team Durant: full roster

Kyrie Irving
Joel Embiid
Bradley Beal
Jayson Tatum
Kawhi Leonard
James Harden
Devin Booker
Zion Williamson
Zach Lavine
Julius Randle
Nikola Vucevic
Donovan Mitchell

Team LeBron: full roster

Lebron James
Giannis
Stephen Curry
Luka Doncic
Nikola Jokic
Damian Lillard
Ben Simmons
Chris Paul
Jaylen Brown
Paul George
Domantas Sabonis
Rudy Gobert

There's no slander to the Utah Jazz. Just like in video games growing up, we would never pick Utah

NBA All-Star Reserves

Team LeBron

James Harden, Devin Booker, Zion Williamson, Zach LaVine, Julius Randle, Domantas Sabonis, Rudy Gobert

Team Durant

Damian Lillard, Ben Simmons, Chris Paul, Jaylen Brown, Paul George, Donovan Mitchell

NBA All-Star lineups

Team LeBron

LeBron Giannis Steph Luka Jokic

Team Durant

Kyrie Embiid Kawhi Beal Tatum

4th pick

LeBron: Stephen Curry (Warriors)

KD: Bradley Beal (Wizards) PLUS Jayston Tatum (Celtics)

3rd pick

LeBron: Luka Doncic (Mavericks)

KD: Kawhi Leonard (Clippers)

2nd pick

LeBron: Kyrie Irving (Nets)

KD: Joel Embiid (76ers)

1st pick

LeBron: Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks)

KD: Kyrie Irving (Nets)

Here go the picks...

KD has a hat for the draft

This is the chilled out look from the Team Durant captain as he gets ready to reveal his picks.

LeBron: "I'm going to pick players that complement the team"

Asked whether he had an eye on some potential new Lakers, James confirmed he was only focused on tonight's pick.

Here come the captains...

Draft excluders

Some people are never happy...

Don't worry Sarah, it's almost over (which means it's almost about to start!)

More All-Star action

Team LeBron and Team Giannis battled for four quarters as [spoiler alert] Anthony Davis won the game on a free throw.

Kawhi Leonard took home the MVP.

All-Star crew

Tony Brown, Courtney Kirkland and Tome Washington are going to be the crew in charge of Sunday evening's game.

They certainly bring plenty of experience to the occasion.

LeBron James picks Giannis Antetokounmpo...

...OK, this is clearly not official as we still have a litle while yet till the draft picks begin, but The Athletic are reporting that this is what we can expect.

NBA HALL OF FAME

2021 NBA All-Star: Hall of Fame Class of 2021 - who is nominated?

All-Star Hall of Fame: 2021 nominees

We reminded you earlier of those that were enshrined last year but do you know the hopefuls this time around.

Check out this summary on who has been nominated, including a number of first-timers, and when the final decision will be taken.

Mocking the NBA draft

A draft wouldn't be a draft without everyone getting their mock versions out. We scanned several but this one from the team at uproxx particularly caught our eye.

TEAM LEBRON: LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving

Bench: Damian Lillard, Devin Booker, Chris Paul, Ben Simmons, Julius Randle, Nikola Vucevic, Domantas Sabonis

TEAM DURANT: Luka Doncic, Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, Bradley Beal, Jayson Tatum

Bench: James Harden, Zion Williamson, Paul George, Zach LaVine, Jaylen Brown, Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell

How close will we get to this? It's not long till we find out...

NBA

NBA All-Star weekend: who were the Hall of Famers in 2020?

Hall of Fame 2020

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2020 went down as one of the most impressive in history, with nine honorees officially enshrined in Springfield, Massachusetts, the birthplace of basketball, on Saturday 29 August 2020.

Can you name the four players that were included? We reveal all here...

Pickety pick

LeBron for Kyrie Irving and Durant for Steph Curry?

That option is getting plenty love out there on social media.

Eastern promise

There is no actual All-Star action tonight but we can of course look back on some of the best moments from the Eastern Conference All-Star Reserves!

So let's do that...

All-Star draft picks: who first? how? etc

Durant and James will make their picks without regard to a player’s conference affiliation or position.  Each captain will draft 11 players to complete a 12-player roster (the captain taking the number to 12, although with Durant injured he'll actually pick 12).

The NBA All-Star Draft rules include:

- The eight players who, along with the two captains, are the starters will be drafted in the first round.

- The 14 players who are the reserves will be drafted in the second round.

- As the top overall vote-getter among fans, James will have the first pick in the first round (Starters).  Durant will have the first pick in the second round (Reserves).

- The captains will alternate picks in each round until all players in that round have been selected.

All-Star excitement

We're itching to find out the team line-ups for Sunday but the schedule for the big game day is pretty tasty.

Ahead of the game, we can get into the mood with the usual fun of the skills and three-point contests as well as they ever-impressive slam dunk competition.

It’s the largest factor, the amount of engagement we get from our fans around All-Star.

Historically, in the modern digital age, we have roughly 100 million people vote for our All-Stars, and we came out about the same this year even with a shortened voting period.

NBA ALL-STAR

NBA All-Star 2021: what covid restrictions are there in the event?

NBA All-Star: covid restrictions

The NBA All-Star Game 2021 will have some notable differences to the years gone before it. Yes the best players of the league will be on show and the top two coaches will be sharing the appropriate tactics with them.

But thanks to a global pandemic, a number of protocols need to be followed.

Here is a run-down of what is in place...

NBA All-Star player pool

Below is the list of starters and reserves which was selected by the voting system in place by the NBA.

As you can see, and more than likely already know, captain Durant is injured and will not be fit in time for the game, but will still make his picks.

NBA All-Star 2021 draft: welcome

Hello and a very warm NBA welcome to our live coverage of the draft pick for this season's All-Star game.

Our two captains, LeBron James and Kevin Durant, have a tough job on their hands tonight, especially with their starters and we are intrigued to see who they will go with.

Stay with us and find out the confirmed line-ups as they develop ahead of the big game on Sunday.