NBA All-Star Game 2022: Date, How Draft works, Full Player Pool, MVP Trophy & more

The NBA All-Star Game 2022 is just around the corner and fans in the US and around the world will get to witness major NBA stars playing as one team. The 71st NBA All-Star Game 2022 will be played on Sunday, February 20 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. Ahead of the NBA All-Star game 2022, Team LeBron and Team Durant will have a chance to draft players and try to make their team stronger. However, with Kevin Durant out of the NBA All-Star Game 2022, it remains to be seen who will be leading the side in his absence.

While the replacement captain is yet to be named, let's take a look at how the NBA ALL-Star Draft works.

NBA All-Star draft: How does it work?

The 2022 NBA All-Star Draft will be broadcasted on Thursday, February 10. The process of preparing the NBA All-Star draft starts with the captains, who are chosen by the All-Star voting results. The leader for each conference gets to select his squad and have the team named after him. The leading vote-getter in the All-Star balloting process is awarded the first pick in the All-Star Draft. For the NBA All-Star 2022 Game, LeBron James gets the chance to make the first pick first.

The captains take turns drafting players from the NBA player pool voted into the All-Star field first, they select from the eight All-Star starters, then from the 14 All-Star reserves. Conference affiliation does not matter during the draft process. The work on NBA All-Star format began in 2017 with Commissioner Adam Silver joining hands with then NBPA president Chris Paul to revamp the format and create the NBA All-Star Draft. The implementation was done back in 2018 and the format has continued since then.

NBA All-Star 2022 players list lineup

The James-led Western Conference starters consist of Ja Morant, Andrew Wiggins, Nikola Jokic, and Stephen Curry, while the Eastern Conference will see Giannis Antetokounmpo, Demar Derozan, Joel Embiid, and Trae Young taking the starting spot. Kevin Durant has been ruled out of the event.

Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball being named as a replacement. Boston Celtics Jayson Tatum, who was selected as an All-Star reserve, will replace Durant as a starter. Another player from Team Durant Draymond Green is also out injured and San Antonio Spurs guard Dejounte Murray have ben named as his replacement. Green has been ruled out of the vent due to a lower back/disc injury.

The reserves list for the 2022 NBA All-Star Eastern Conference team has been headlined by Jimmy Butler of Miami Heat, Darius Garland from Cleveland Cavaliers, James Harden of Brooklyn Nets, Zach LaVine of Chicago Bulls, Khris Middleton from Milwaukee Bucks, Jayson Tatum from Boston Celtics and Fred VanVleet from Toronto Raptors

The reserve list of the Western Conference is headlined by the Phoenix Suns duo of Chris Paul and Devin Booker, while the list also comprises of Luka Doncic of Dallas Mavericks, Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell from Utah Jazz and Karl-Anthony Towns from Minnesota Timberwolves.

About NBA All-Star MVP trophy

Coming to the NBA All-Star MVP trophy, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver back in 2020 had announced that the NBA All-Star Game 2022 MVP trophy has been permanently named in honour of the late Kobe Bryant, an 18-time All-Star who won a record-tying four NBA  All-Star Game MVP awards.  The new Kobe Bryant Trophy celebrates its namesake, with details holding dual meanings, both for NBA All-Star and Bryant’s legendary career,