NBA All-Star Game: which players have made the most appearances?

The 2023 NBA All-Star Game will be held at the Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah on Sunday, Feb. 19. This is the 72nd edition of the NBA’s famous game and will feature a battle between the team captained by Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo and the one which will be led by Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James. Where James is concerned, it is of course fitting as he prepares to make history once again.

King James jointly reigns supreme in the NBA All-Star Game

LeBron James has just equaled the record held by the legendary Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most NBA All-Star Game selections in history with 19. The Bucks and Lakers icon also played the most All-Star games in history with 18, which James also matched. Indeed, between 1970 and 1989, Abdul-Jabbar missed just one All-Star game, in 1973.

After last year’s game, both James and the late Kobe Bryant had been selected on 18 occasions, but the latter missed three of them in 2010, 2014 and 2015. To give you some perspective, since its inception back in 1951 there have been 443 players selected for the NBA All-Star game, but of those only 302 have been selected more than once.

Now, here we are with James about to pass the great Kareem in All-Star appearances, as he will now move to 19 barring any unforeseen circumstance. Incidentally, he also holds the record for the most starts in the All-Star game which now stands at 18. This marks yet another incredible achievement in what has been an unprecedented season for James and interestingly enough, at Kareem’s expense. If you missed it, James took his seat on the throne atop the league’s all-time scoring list, when he passed Abdul-Jabbar’s record of 38,387 points. James now sits at 38,390 and will assumedly go on to score many more before his sensational career comes to an end.

Players with the most NBA All-Star selections