The Celtics will have at least one All-Star in Chicago next month after Kemba Walker was announced as an NBA All-Star starter Thursday night.
The 29-year-old Walker is averaging 21.7 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds per game in a season that has been highlight by strong efficiency. His true shooting percentage of 58.9 percent is a career-high as he flirts with topping the 40 percent mark from 3-point range (39 percent) while hitting 50.2 percent of his shots inside the arc.
Walker did not beat out former Celtic Kyrie Irving in the fan vote (finishing third in a close race) but that result only counted for 50 percent of the All-Star vote. Both the media and players had their say (25 percent of the vote each) and Walker finished on top in both of those categories to earn the spot alongside Trae Young in the backcourt. Here’s a look a the starters selected from each conference:
East
F: Giannis Antetokounmpo
C: Joel Embiid
F: Pascal Siakam
G: Kemba Walker
G: Trae Young
West
F: LeBron James
F: Kawhi Leonard
C: Anthony Davis
G: Luka Doncic
G: James Harden
Reserves will be chosen by head coaches in each conference and those announcements will come on January 30th. At that point, Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James (designed team captains) will hold a draft to select their teams for the All-Star in Chicago on Feb. 16.
Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum still hold a strong case for a spot in what will be a very crowded Eastern Conference race among the reserves.
Here’s a full look at the voting results for the starters:
From @NBAPR here are the official voting results. #NBAAllStar pic.twitter.com/2v4yflon3v
— Aaron Berlin (@Aaron_Berlin) January 24, 2020