2023 NBA All-Star Game: Starting Five Predictions For LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo

The NBA has recently revealed the top ten players in the league to have earned votes for the 2023 NBA All-Star Game happening in Utah on February 19 and it is no surprise to see who the captains are.

The Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James and Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo are set to lead the Western and Eastern conference squads respectively after being determined as the highest vote-getters.

James again led the field with 7.4 million fan votes, about two million ahead of Stephen Curry, while Antetokounmpo took home captaincy honors with a slim lead of about 200,000 over Kevin Durant with 6.7 million votes.

The starters for this year's game is as follows per conference:

Western Conference:

• Lebron James, F (captain)
• Zion Williamson, F
• Nikola Jokic, C
• Stephen Curry, G
• Luka Doncic, G

Eastern Conference:

• Giannis Antetokounmpo, C (captain)
• Kevin Durant, F
• Jayson Tatum, F
• Donovan Mitchell, G
• Kyrie Irving, G

Despite the reserves still being kept under wraps until next Thursday, February 2, now would be a fun time to start predicting who each captain will choose as their starting five.

However, a new twist introduced by the NBA is that the always-hilarious All-Star Draft will now take place immediately before the game–imitating that of the pick-up game atmosphere in the park that the NBA is hoping to imbibe in this year's All-Star Game.

James will again get the first overall pick because he is the leading vote-getter and how the draft will turn out, at least for the starters in the meantime, can swing in a lot of ways as James has proven throughout the years of his captaincy in the pick-your-team format.

It will be interesting which players each captain will make after being in the same position in the 2019 and 2020 All-Star Games.

Below is what the starters could look like in descending order from each captain's first pick to the last, based on their drafting history:

LeBron James

• Stephen Curry
• Jayson Tatum
• Donovan Mitchell
• Zion Williamson

Giannis Antetokounmpo

• Kevin Durant
• Luka Doncic
• Nikola Jokic
• Kyrie Irving

As an All-Star Game captain, James is as methodical as it can get and picking Stephen Curry first would not be a shocker since he enjoys playing with him in a night dedicated purely to the fans.

Opting to counter Antetokounmpo's pick of Kevin Durant, James will opt for someone who can do it on both ends of the floor like Jayson Tatum which opens up the likelihood of selecting Luka Doncic.

James, deciding he needs more firepower on his side since the All-Star Game, is about as offense-heavy as it can be, selecting a resurgent Donovan Mitchell to his squad makes the most sense while Antetokounmpo will opt to complete the European trio by picking Nikola Jokic.

As for their last picks, James still lacks a forward and will decide to take the New Orleans Pelicans' Zion Williamson with Kyrie Irving falling to Antetokounmpo as the last pick to complete the draft.

Both captains have a trend going on in their starter selections with Antetokounmpo emphasizing a complete balance of offense and defense while James has a penchant for going all-out on getting the most points possible.

The 2023 edition of the All-Star Game is set to have fans at the edge of their seats once again as James puts up his undefeated record of 5-0 since becoming a captain in the draft format against the always-beaming Antetokounmpo.