We are at the halfway point of the 2022-23 NBA season, which means the league’s best players get together to play in the annual All-Star game. And the 2023 version of the game will be a little different as the teams will be determined minutes before tipoff. The game will start at 8:30 p.m. ET and air on TNT. Fans can also watch it streaming via the TNT App.
The NBA has done away with the Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference format of the game and gone with a more playground-style format. The top two vote-getters of the conferences — LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo — will choose their teams minutes before the start of the game. The two superstars will choose their reserve players who made the all-star teams before picking the starters. The Western Conference starters are James, Luke Doncic, Stephen Curry (not playing, injured) Nikola Jokic and Zion Williamson (not playing, injured). The Eastern Conference starters are Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant (not playing, injured), Kyrie Irving, Donovan Mitchell and Jayson Tatum.
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“It’s the same. It never gets old,” Antetokounmpo told reporters this week when asked about the All-Star game. “Every day, every time I step to my locker and I see my jersey with my name and I’m around all these great players, which are the best players in the world, it’s always a great feeling. I never take it for granted. God has blessed me enough to be seven times an All-Star so far, and this might be my last one, so I try to enjoy to the fullest and appreciate every moment with the best players in the world.”
This All-Star game is a special one for James as he’s playing in it for the 19th time. He is now tied with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most All-Star selections. And that’s fitting considering James just passed Abdul-Jabbar to be the NBA’s all-time scoring leader.
“To be in the presence of such a legend and great as Kareem, it means so much to me. It’s very humbling,” James said shortly after breaking the record earlier this month, per NBA.com. “To everybody who’s ever been a part of this run with me the last 20 years, I just want to say thank you so much. To the NBA … I thank you guys so much for letting me be part of something I’ve always dreamed about. I would never, ever in a million years dreamed it’s better than what it is tonight.”
