Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James has been named one of the 10 NBA All-Star Game starters for the 2025 edition of the game, while Anthony Davis was left off and will have to be named a reserve in order to participate.
The 2025 season brings about a new version of the All-Star Game. The 10 starters and 14 reserves will be split into three teams of eight — drafted by Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith — with Rising Stars making up a fourth teams of eight in a tournament style competition.
Because of this, the five starters in each conference are more symbolic, but they were still voted in by 50% fan vote, 25% player vote and 25% media vote as has always been the case in the old format.
James was named one of the five Western Conference starters alongside Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant and Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic.
In the Eastern Conference, Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo was named a starter alongside New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum and first-year Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns.
Davis, meanwhile, was left off of the starter ballot, finishing fifth in Western Conference front court voting. He was behind the three starters and San Antonio Spurs sophomore Victor Wembanyama. It’s expected, though, that Davis will be selected as a reserve by NBA coaches.
There are seven reserve spots in each conference, and Davis was undoubtedly one of the seven best players not already named a starter in the Western Conference. It will be interesting to see if one of the three drafters look to pair Davis and LeBron together on their eight-man roster.
For James, this marks the 21st time he has been named an All-Star, which extends the record that he set last season. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the previous record-holder with 19.
This year’s All-Star Game takes place at Chase Center in San Francisco, California on Sunday, Feb. 16 at 5:00 p.m. PT.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis pushing Lakers to make trades
The Lakers know that they cannot win a championship as currently constructed. LeBron James has said as such during a recent down stretch. But that doesn’t mean they can’t make moves to get to that place.
The Lakers have already made one solid deal in acquiring Dorian Finney-Smith, but other needs remain if they want to make a serious run at a championship.
James and Anthony Davis know that to be true and they appear to be pushing the organization to use their tradeable first-round picks in 2029 and 2031 to improve the roster.
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