Twitter Has Already Decided Who'll Win LeBron vs. Giannis 2019 NBA All-Star Game
While basketball fans spent the first part of the day monitoring the trade deadline, Thursday night featured the first-ever airing of the NBA All-Star Game draft.
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo served as the captains of the draft after winning the fan vote for their respective conferences. As a result of James piling up the most votes overall, the reigning All-Star Game MVP held the first overall pick.
The rosters for Team LeBron and Team Giannis were announced on Thursday night, and Twitter of course had plenty of thoughts on how the draft played out.
Team LeBron
LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
Kevin Durant, Golden State Warriors
Kyrie Irving, Boston Celtics
Kawhi Leonard, Toronto Raptors
James Harden, Houston Rockets
Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans
Klay Thompson, Golden State Warriors
Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers
LaMarcus Aldridge, San Antonio Spurs
Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves
Bradley Beal, Washington Wizards
Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat
Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers*
Team Giannis
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers
Paul George, Oklahoma City Thunder
Kemba Walker, Charlotte Hornets
Khris Middleton, Milwaukee Bucks
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
Blake Griffin, Detroit Pistons
D'Angelo Russell, Brooklyn Nets
Nikola Vucevic, Orlando Magic
Kyle Lowry, Toronto Raptors
Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks
Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder*
In honor of the trade deadline, the 2019 All-Star Game featured the first-of-its-kind swap, with James proposing a Russell Westbrook-for-Ben Simmons trade. That led to a bit of an awkward moment on Twitter:
James got one of his buddies while setting the stage for some drama in the Team Giannis locker room, as Westbrook and Team Giannis teammate Joel Embiid have had quite the feud the past few seasons.
Embiid shared his thoughts on Twitter:
In other words, stay tuned.
James earned plenty of praise for the way he assembled his roster:
Some couldn't help but appreciate the fact that the exhibition will feature a LeBron-Kyrie reunion:
And of course, there were those who wonder if James was using this opportunity as a potential recruiting tactic:
That's barely mentioning James' pick of Anthony Davis, who was reportedly a Lakers target prior to the deadline.
Regardless, the first-ever airing of the draft made for entertaining television:
The 2019 NBA All-Star Game will be held on Feb. 17 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
