Dave McMenaminESPN Staff Writer8:23 PM ET1 Minute Read
SALT LAKE CITY – More changes are coming to the NBA All-Star team selection process.
Unlike previous years, when All-Star team captains drafted their rosters via televised simulation from their respective cities weeks before the All-Star Game, this year’s draft will be live on stage approximately 90 minutes to a half hour beforehand The Vivint Arena performed tipoff on Sunday, a league spokesman told ESPN.
Draft location and timing aren’t the only things changing, however. The order is too.
Turner Sports host Ernie Johnson revealed Thursday on Inside the NBA that team captains LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo will first select reserves for their bench before splitting up the eight remaining starters afterward. In this format, the last player selected would still start the game, avoiding the schoolyard stigma associated with last player selection.
Any player present for the game in Salt Lake City will be drafted live, a league spokesman told ESPN.
In 2018, the league bid farewell to its traditional Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference format for the February celebrations and introduced team captains — the most voted in each conference — that players in their respective rosters can choose.
James has been captained every six years since the draft was introduced, with his teams going 5-0 to date. This is the third time Antetokounmpo has been named captain. Kevin Durant captained twice and Stephen Curry captained once in 2018.