2022 NBA All-Star Game

2022 NBA All-Star Game

Date	February 20, 2022
Arena	Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
City	Cleveland
Network	TNT TBS (as all-star game)
Team LeBron Team Durant
NBA All-Star Game
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The 2022 NBA All-Star Game will be an exhibition game played on February 20, 2022, during the National Basketball Association's 2021–22 season. It will be the 71st edition of the NBA All-Star Game. The game will be hosted by the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. This will be the third time that the Cleveland area will host the All-Star Game, the first being in 1981 at the Coliseum in nearby Richfield, Ohio, and most recently in 1997—three years after the Cavaliers moved back to downtown Cleveland to play in the newly built Gund Arena, which is now known as Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Coincidentally, on the occasion Cleveland hosted an All-Star Game, the NBA celebrated its 35th season (1981), 50th anniversary (1997), and 75th anniversary (2022).

The game will be televised nationally by TNT for the 20th consecutive year.^[1] The announcement of the site selection was made on November 1, 2018 at a press conference held by the Cleveland Cavaliers.^[2]

All-Star Game[]

Coaches[]

Phoenix Suns' Monty Williams (left) and Miami Heat's Erik Spoelstra (right) were selected as head coach for Team LeBron and Team Durant, respectively.

Monty Williams, coach of the Phoenix Suns, qualified as the head coach of Team LeBron on January 30.^[3] Erik Spoelstra, coach of the Miami Heat, also qualified as the head coach of Team Durant on February 6.^[4]

Rosters[]

As had been the case in previous years, the rosters for the All-Star Game were selected through a voting process. The fans could vote through the NBA website as well as through their Google account. The starters were chosen by the fans, media, and current NBA players. Fans made up 50% of the vote, and NBA players and media each comprised 25% of the vote. The two guards and three frontcourt players who received the highest cumulative vote totals in each conferences were named the All-Star starters and two players in each conferences with the highest votes were named team captains.^[5] NBA head coaches voted for the reserves for their respective conferences, none of which could be players from their own team. Each coach selected two guards, three frontcourt players and two wild cards, with each selected player ranked in order of preference within each category. If a multi-position player was to be selected, coaches were encouraged to vote for the player at the position that was "most advantageous for the All-Star team", regardless of where the player was listed on the All-Star ballot or the position he was listed in box scores.^[6]

The All-Star Game starters were announced on January 27, 2022. Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks and DeMar DeRozan of the Chicago Bulls were named the backcourt starters in the East, earning their second and fifth all-star appearances, respectively. Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks were named the frontcourt starters in the East, earning their 12th and sixth all-star appearances, respectively. Joining in the East frontcourt was Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers, his fifth selection.^[7]

Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors were named to the starting backcourt in the West, earning their first and eighth all-star appearances, respectively. In the frontcourt, Andrew Wiggins of the Golden State Warriors and LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers was named to their first and 18th all-star selections, respectively. Joining them was reigning MVP Nikola Jokić of the Denver Nuggets, in his fourth all-star selection.^[7] Wiggins was the third first-time All-Star to be voted a starter in his eighth season or later.^[a] He also became the first No. 1 overall draft pick in the modern draft era (since 1966) to earn their first All-Star selection in their eighth season or later.^[8]

The All-Star Game reserves were announced on February 3, 2022. The West reserves included Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns, his third selection (and first as a non-replacement player); Luka Dončić of the Dallas Mavericks, his third selection; Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz, his third selection; Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors, his fourth selection; Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz, his third selection; Chris Paul of the Phoenix Suns, his 12th selection; and Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves, his third selection.^[9]

The East reserves included Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat, his sixth selection; Darius Garland of the Cleveland Cavaliers, his first selection; James Harden of the Brooklyn Nets, his tenth selection; Zach LaVine of the Chicago Bulls, his second selection; Khris Middleton of the Milwaukee Bucks, his third selection; Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics, his third selection; and Fred VanVleet of the Toronto Raptors, his first selection.^[9]

• Italics indicates leading vote-getters per conference

Draft[]

The NBA-All Star draft will take place on February 10, 2022. LeBron James and Kevin Durant were named captains for the second straight year, as they both received the most votes from the West and East, respectively.^[7] The first eight players to be drafted will be starters. The next 14 players, chosen by NBA head coaches (seven from each conference), will then be drafted. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will select replacements for any player unable to participate in the All-Star Game, choosing a player from the same conference as the player who was being replaced. Silver's selection will join the team that drafted the replaced player. If a replaced player is a starter, the head coach of that team will choose a new starter from their cast of players instead.

Game[]

The 2022 All-Star Game will use the same format as the 2020 edition; the team that scores the most points during each of the first three 12-minute quarters will receive a cash prize, which will be donated to a designated charity. The pot will roll over if the teams are tied. The fourth quarter will be untimed, under the rules of the Elam Ending. The first team to meet or exceed a "target score"—the score of the leading team in total scoring after three quarters plus 24—is declared the winner.^[10]

All-Star Weekend[]

NBA HBCU Classic[]

A Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) college basketball game between the Howard Bison and Morgan State Bears at Cleveland's Wolstein Center will be held on February 19 as the inaugural NBA HBCU Classic; the NBA and AT&T will donate $100,000 to each team's athletic department, and the game will be simulcast by TNT and ESPN2.^[11][12]

Rising Stars Challenge[]

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

• 2022 NBA All-Star Game at nba.com