LeBron is in, Kawhi is out: Answering four questio…

As the calendar turns to February, the NBA All-Star Game is just two weeks away. The starters were announced Jan. 19 and include Luka Doncic, Stephen Curry, Nikola Jokic, Victor Wembanyama and reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the West. Jalen Brunson, Cade Cunningham, Jaylen Brown, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Tyrese Maxey were named the starters in the East.

The reserves were announced Sunday, including Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and Kevin Durant in the West, as well as Donovan Mitchell and Karl-Anthony Towns in the East.

ESPN NBA Insiders Zach Kram and Kevin Pelton break down the full East and West rosters, including the biggest surprises and snubs, and they make their bold predictions.

Which player were you most surprised to see on the roster?

Pelton: LeBron James is the clear choice, but seeing Karl-Anthony Towns added was surprising because his play this season has drawn a lot of pessimism, and the Knicks have been a bit disappointing. I think teammate Mikal Bridges has been New York’s second-best player after starter Jalen Brunson. Given Towns’ track record, the choice is certainly reasonable yet surprising nonetheless.

Kram: LeBron. It sounds silly to be surprised about a player who had made the past 21 All-Star games making it 22 in a row. But James missed the first month, his counting stats are down in his age-41 season and there’s fierce competition in the Western Conference player pool, leaving many surprised that his was the last name unveiled during the All-Star roster announcement.

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Which player were you most surprised to see left off?

Pelton: Kawhi Leonard. He has been a top-10 player this season, and after a dreadful start, the LA Clippers have been one of the league’s hottest teams since Christmas. Anthony Edwards was the only West reserve I would have picked over Leonard. If I were taking a multitime Finals MVP playing in L.A., Leonard was an easy choice over James.

Kram: Alperen Sengun was a first-time All-Star last season, has improved as a defender and has better counting stats across the board this season while helping lead the Houston Rockets to the second-best point differential in the West. New Rocket Kevin Durant was a shoo-in, but I think Sengun should have given Houston a second All-Star representative, even if that meant Devin Booker missed out and the surprising Phoenix Suns didn’t get a player on the team.

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Are we getting close to enough international All-Stars to do a normal USA/World 12 vs. 12 game?

Pelton: We might be closer to even in terms of internationals than East vs. West. Some of the answer depends on the NBA’s definition of international. Donovan Mitchell made the case recently to Andscape’s Marc J. Spears that he’d like to represent Panama, where his grandmother was born. If the NBA pushed every possible case like that or Kyrie Irving (born in Australia, though he grew up in the U.S.), they could get to 12 without diluting the meaning of being an All-Star.

Kram: There are almost enough worthy international players to round out a 12-person roster; if that were the framework this season, the eight actual international All-Stars would likely be joined by Sengun, Lauri Markkanen, Franz Wagner (despite a lack of playing time) and Joel Embiid. (Embiid was born in Cameroon but plays for Team USA internationally; the NBA could also choose to slot Towns, who was born in New Jersey but plays for the Dominican Republic, as an international representative.) Josh Giddey, OG Anunoby and Dillon Brooks have outside cases as well.

However, those players largely don’t have better All-Star cases than the ninth-through-12th-best Americans, so I wouldn’t advocate such a consequential change just yet. Let’s see how the format works with three teams (two American, one international) this year before deciding whether the NBA should change the All-Star format once again.

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Give us one bold prediction for the All-Star Game/mini-tournament.

Pelton: The NBA enjoys a short-term benefit from changing the format. Drafting teams and introducing a target score (aka the «Elam ending») resulted in more competitive games initially, before devolving into the defense-free play we’ve seen since. I could see the international team, in particular, taking things seriously and forcing their American opponents to up their game. However, I don’t see this or anything else «fixing» the All-Star Game long term.

Kram: Victor Wembanyama takes MVP honors. Big men rarely win this award at the All-Star game — it has gone to a guard or wing in 13 of the past 15 years, with Anthony Davis and Giannis Antetokounmpo as the lone exceptions — but Wembanyama is so competitive that he’ll gain an advantage just by taking the event seriously. In his first All-Star Game last year, he led his team in scoring (11 points in seven minutes), and he and Chris Paul were disqualified for trying to exploit a loophole in the skills challenge.