LeBron James probably saw some of the tweets and stories suggesting that his picks for Team LeBron in the 2019 All-Star Game were motivated by many of them being free agents this summer.
James selected Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Klay Thompson and Kyrie Irving to his team, but told reporters yesterday he picked those players because he wanted the best chance to win and that Giannis Antetokounmpo surprised him with certain selections.
“There was a couple shuffles,” James said. “I knew where I was going with my first and my second pick because he had already stated he was going with Steph. So I knew I was going KD and Ky. So I kind of got shuffled a little bit when he picked [Joel] Embiid and had to kind of change my thing around. I like my team.”
James was the captain for the Western Conference for the first time after representing the East in last year’s inaugural All-Star draft. The players who received the most fan votes for each conference were chosen as the captains.
James took care of the official reasons for picking the players and of course for him, winning the game will likely help any of his possible recruiting efforts. Even though he’s “not recruiting.”
