NBA All-Star Game 2020: Predicting Captains, Starting Lineups Under Draft Format

Before the NBA breezes through the Windy City for its annual All-Star Weekend, it must first assemble the rosters of the world's greatest pickup game.

That process begins in earnest Thursday. That's when the Association will announce which of its biggest and brightest stars have been selected as All-Star starters by fans, media members and their fellow peers. Two of those starters—the starter with the most fan votes in each conference—will be designated as captains and be responsible for selecting their teammates in two weeks.

But who wants to sit around and wait for the announcement when our crystal ball can see into the future? Between its vision and our processing of vote totals and statistical productions, we can predict which 10 players will comprise the two starting lineups.

NBA All-Star Draft Schedule

Thursday, Jan. 23: Captains and starters announced

Thursday, Jan. 30: Reserves announced

Thursday, Feb. 6: NBA All-Star draft

All will be televised on TNT at 7 p.m. ET

Roster Predictions

Captains

There's zero drama in the East regarding the captaincy. Giannis Antetokounmpo held the seat last season and is essentially running unopposed this year.

The latest voting returns showed Antetokounmpo holding 4,474,107 votes. No one else in the conference had collected even 2.5 million.

It's different story out West, though. While LeBron James is the leading overall vote-getter at 4,747,887, Luka Doncic (4,598,323) and Anthony Davis (4,412,619) are both within striking distance.

Still, our crystal ball likes the King's chances of earning the captaincy for the third consecutive season. He's the most important player for the conference's top team, which just so happens to be its most popular club, too.

Predicted Starters

Eastern Conference

FC: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks (Captain)

FC: Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers

FC: Pascal Siakam, Toronto Raptors

BC: Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks

BC: Kemba Walker, Boston Celtics

Unless voters are heavily swayed by games missed, there shouldn't be much debate about the East's frontcourt.

Antetokounmpo should be joined in the opening group by Joel Embiid and Pascal Siakam. The latter two have each missed more than 10 games to injuries, but that's not enough to hold them back. Embiid is the league's most talented center, and Siakam is making an argument for the Most Improved Player award, which he captured last season.

Those feel like All-Star-starter designations. Some voters might reward Jimmy Butler for the Miami Heat's surprising success and his massive impact on the performance, but scoring often drives this decision, and Butler does less of it (and less efficiently) than the others.

The races are closer in the backcourt, especially with Kyrie Irving's normal starting spot presumably stripped away by all the time he's missed.

Kemba Walker seems a good bet to make his second consecutive All-Star start. He's averaging 21.7 points and 5.0 assists. He's enjoying one of the best shooting seasons of his career. And he's set to receive the narrative bump of seemingly improving the chemistry of the Boston Celtics after sliding into Irving's old spot.

The second backcourt spot is tricky, and it depends on how much voters care about team success. If the answer is a lot, then that boosts the chances of Kyle Lowry, Ben Simmons or even Jaylen Brown grabbing an opening gig.

More likely, though, is that voters see All-Star accolades as individual achievements and therefore give the nod to Trae Young, who has joined Doncic as the only players with top-five scoring and distributing averages.

Western Conference

FC: LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers (Captain)

FC: Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers

FC: Kawhi Leonard, Los Angeles Clippers

BC: Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks

BC: James Harden, Houston Rockets

Let's start with the backcourt, since the discussion should take half of a second.

James Harden has the eighth-highest scoring average in NBA history and a per-game point mark we haven't seen in more than 30 years. Doncic has a chance to become only the third player to ever average at least 29 points, nine assists and nine rebounds.

If these two aren't named All-Star starters, then the voting process is broken.

Up front, the two Lakers stars should be set in stone. James is somehow continuing to add to his game at 35 years old, as he's on course for his first assists title. Davis has been everything the Purple and Gold could've imagined and more. Player efficiency rating regards him as this season's fourth-most productive player.

The final spot gets a little interesting, but only because Kawhi Leonard has already accumulated double-digit absences. Again, if that matters to voters, maybe that clears a path to a starting spot for Nikola Jokic, Rudy Gobert or Karl-Anthony Towns.

We're not seeing it, though. Leonard's tremendous two-way talent and statistical dominance, coupled with the Clippers' success, should earn him his fourth All-Star start in five seasons.