NBPA: 'Absence of Consensus' from Players Kept All-Star Draft off Television

The National Basketball Players Association said in a statement Thursday that an "absence of a consensus" resulted in the decision to avoid televising the 2018 NBA All-Star Game draft. 

"It was the absence of a consensus by prospective players likely to be affected that led to" the choice, the NBPA said, according to ESPN.com's Ian Begley. "Whether a decision to broadcast the draft will be made after this year's game, that will be determined going forward."

Instead of televising their picks live, team captains LeBron James and Stephen Curry held a conference call with the league office Thursday to finalize their squads. 

James and Curry selected the remaining eight starters in the first round, while the second round saw each captain choose seven reserves from the pool of players that was finalized Tuesday. 

Once the draft ended, James and Curry both tweeted their support of televising the draft in 2019: 

"This is a new format," Curry told USA Today's Sam Amick. "It's been a certain way for so long … we've still got training wheels on it and we'll figure out how to make it better from here."

James, it should be noted, has been a vocal proponent of televising the draft. 

"We're all grown men," he said in December, according to Cleveland.com's Joe Vardon. "It doesn't stop your paycheck from coming. It won't stop you from playing time when the season starts."

And while NBA Commissioner Adam Silver recently told NBA TV a public draft "would be more fun," he conceded "there was a sense from the players that it put them in an impossible position" because of the way some selections would be interpreted. 

The All-Star Game will take place Feb. 18 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.