Stephen Curry will be joining Olympic teammates LeBron James and Kevin Durant once again, this time at the All-Star Game.
The NBA announced the rosters for this season's midseason showcase event on Tuesday night, splitting 25 names onto three squads. It's the debut of another new All-Star format — this one U.S. vs. The World, on Feb. 15 at the Los Angeles Clippers' home in Inglewood, California.
It's a concept that Commissioner Adam Silver thinks will tap into national pride for the players and comes at a fitting time. The game will be aired on NBC, which is also broadcasting the Milan Cortina Olympics that start later this week and run through Feb. 22.
The U.S.-vs.-World concept was talked about for years before becoming a reality this season. The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association unveiled the long-awaited plan in their latest attempt to spark renewed interest in the game following a largely panned tournament format last season.
The Clippers' Kawhi Leonard, likely the most deserving name left off the original list of 24 All-Stars, was added to the pool of U.S. players Tuesday shortly before the rosters were unveiled. And that move likely was what sent New York's Karl-Anthony Towns to the World team.
Towns was born in New Jersey but has played international basketball for the Dominican Republic — his late mother's homeland.
The NBA had said in recent months that it would adjust roster sizes as needed to ensure all three teams had at least eight players, the minimum required under the new format. Giannis Antetokounmpo is not expected to play for the World team because of injury, which is why that squad has nine players.
The U.S. teams were split by age: The older players were assigned to USA Stripes, the younger ones to USA Stars.
The rosters:
USA Stripes
Jaylen Brown, Boston; Jalen Brunson, New York; Stephen Curry, Golden State; Kevin Durant, Houston; LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers; Kawhi Leonard, Los Angeles Clippers; Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland; Norman Powell, Miami.
Coach: Mitch Johnson, San Antonio.
USA Stars
Scottie Barnes, Toronto; Devin Booker, Phoenix; Cade Cunningham, Detroit; Jalen Duren, Detroit; Anthony Edwards, Minnesota; Chet Holmgren, Oklahoma City; Jalen Johnson, Atlanta; Tyrese Maxey, Philadelphia.
Coach: J.B. Bickerstaff, Detroit.
World
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee; Deni Avdija, Portland; Luka Doncic, Los Angeles Lakers; Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City; Nikola Jokic, Denver; Jamal Murray, Denver; Pascal Siakam, Indiana; Karl-Anthony Towns, New York; Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio.
Coach: Darko Rajakovic, Toronto.
Schedule
All games will be 12 minutes.
— Game 1: USA Stars vs. World.
— Game 2: USA Stripes vs. winning team of Game 1.
— Game 3: USA Stripes vs. losing team of Game 1.
— Game 4: Championship (top two teams from round-robin play). If all three teams finish 1-1 after the round-robin games, the first tiebreaker will be point differential across each team’s games.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
