The NBA announced today that Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant and guard Kyrie Irving have been selected by fans, current NBA players and a media panel to start in the 2021 NBA All-Star Game, which will take place on Sunday, March 7, at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
Durant and the Lakers’ LeBron James will serve as team captains for the Team Durant vs. Team LeBron matchup and draft rosters from the pool of players voted as starters and reserves in each conference. TNT will air the 2021 NBA All-Star Draft on Thursday, March 4, at 8 p.m. ET.
Irving has been named an All-Star for the seventh time in his career and has been selected as a starter for the fifth time. The 2014 All-Star Game MVP has averaged 28.3 points (seventh in the league and fourth in the East), 4.6 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.1 steals in 35.3 minutes per game while shooting 53.4 percent from the field, 44.2 percent from 3-point range and 91.8 percent from the free-throw line (seventh in the league) across 20 games.
Irving is currently on pace to become just the fourth player in NBA history to average 25.0 or more points per game on 50.0 percent shooting from the field, 40.0 percent shooting from 3-point range and 90.0 percent shooting from the free-throw line, which was previously accomplished twice by Larry Bird (1986-87 and 1987-88) and once by Stephen Curry (2015-16) and Durant (2012-13).
Irving is averaging career highs in points per game, field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, offensive rating (121.6), net rating (8.2) and effective field goal percentage (61.0 percent), while tallying 25 or more points 16 times this season, including seven games of 30 or more points.
Durant and Irving are the fifth and sixth Nets to ever be selected as All-Star Game starters, joining Jason Kidd (2008), Vince Carter (2005), Kenny Anderson (1994) and Derrick Coleman (1994), and just the second pair of Nets selected to start an All-Star Game together, joining Anderson and Coleman, who were selected to start the 1994 All-Star Game in Minnesota.
