This year they're gonna do 3 teams of 8 players including one "World" team vs two US teams. Yet for the voting they're still doing East vs West with 12 players each. It really complicates things but anyway, here's my prediction how it's going to turn out:
First, here's the recap of the East & West Starters announced a few days ago:
WEST
- Nikola Jokic
- Luka Doncic
- Shay Gilgeous-Alexander
- Stephen Curry
- Victor Wembanyama
EAST
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Jalen Brunson
- Cade Cunningham
- Tyrese Maxey
- Jaylen Brown
5 World players (which will simplify the World team's Starter selection) and 5 US players.
7 players from each Conference will complete the rosters, 14 total including 3 "World" players. I believe the 3 most legitimate World players are:
- Jamal Murray
- Deni Avdija
- Alperen Sengun
But that's a problem because they're all from the Western Conference. That leaves only 4 spots left for US players in the Western Conference, including:
- Anthony Edwards
- Kevin Durant
- LeBron James
- Chet Holmgren
- De'Aaron Fox
- Kawhi Leonard
- Devin Booker
- Lauri Markkanen
and more...
I think Anthony Edwards and Kevin Durant are locks, and I believe LeBron (pity selection) and Chet are going to make the cut.
So that would be the list of the 7 reserves for the West:
- Jamal Murray
- Deni Avdija
- Alperen Sengun
- Anthony Edwards
- Kevin Durant
- LeBron James
- Chet Holmgren
As announced by the NBA, more than 12 players could be selected if they don't get the right number of people for each team, Therefore it's possible the West gets one or two more picks in that case.
Now for the East reserves, 7 spots are open, all US players. Here's my tentative list:
- Donovan Mitchell
- Scottie Barnes
- Jalen Johnson
- Jalen Duren
- Norman Powell
- Karl-Anthony Towns
- Michael Porter Jr.
KAT has dual citizenship so he can be counted as a US player.
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Here's what the actual three All Star Teams would look like.
World Team:
STARTERS
- Shay Gilgeous-Alexander / Canada
- Luka Doncic / Slovenia
- Victor Wembanyama / France
- Giannis Antetokounmpo / Greece
- Nikola Jokic / Serbia
RESERVES
- Jamal Murray / Canada
- Deni Avdija / Israel
- Alperen Sengun / Turkey
For the US, there would be 10 starters total including all 5 voted Staters (noted with a *). Here's what that could look like:
STARTERS
- Stephen Curry*
- Tyrese Maxey*
- Anthony Edwards
- Kevin Durant
- LeBron James / Jalen Duren
- Jalen Brunson*
- Donovan Mitchell
- Cade Cunningham*
- Jaylen Brown*
- Chet Holmgren
RESERVES
Scottie Barnes
Jalen Johnson
LeBron James / Jalen Duren
Norman Powell
Karl-Anthony Towns
Michael Porter Jr.
The US Starters clearly lack size & interior presence, especially compared to the World team, which is why I'm not sure who they're gonna start between LeBron & Duren. Sportively Duren should absolutely start, but they're probably going to give LeBron a pity starting spot anyway.