The final line-up for this year's All-Star Game is set and everyone's excited as hell heading into the break. Both LeBron James and Kevin Durant just made their All-Star Draft picks to fill-up their respective rosters and both 10-man units are looking crazy good. Prior to the ASG tip-off on March 7 in State Farm Arena in Atlanta, we obviously have our picks on which team's looking better. I know I have.
Before we weigh in on which team looks better (at least on paper), here's a quick rundown of who's on Team LeBron and who's suiting up for Team Durant (via Bleacher Report):
Team LeBron and Team Durant are set.
Who you got 👀 pic.twitter.com/mw3nykmji0
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 5, 2021
Just looking at the initial line-up, my money's got to be on Team LeBron.
The contrast between both starting units is quite stark, again at least on paper. Team LBJ has a four-time MVP in James himself, a two-time MVP in Stephen Curry, plus the reigning two-time MVP in Giannis Antetokounmpo. That's a total of eight MVPs across these three superstars.
Add to that, he has MVP candidates Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic to complete his starting five. Though scoring might not this team's biggest weapon, Giannis and LeBron can hold the fort defensively while Luka and The Joker will have a fun time distributing the ball. Obviously, Steph's shooting will help the team get on the board.
On the other side of the fence, Team Durant can definitely hold its own. But, talking about league MVPs, KD's team is quite thin compared to LeBron's.
Though they have the league's leading MVP race candidate in Joel Embiid as their starting center, their only former MVP in their starting unit is Durant who won't even be playing due to a hamstring injury. The only other MVP in their line-up would be James Harden and he's coming off the bench.
But, we all know that this isn't a contest on who's got the most Maurice Podolff trophies. As ESPN Stats & Info puts it, Durant's squad has the advantage in terms of this season's scoring and three-point field goal percentage. They have the league's leading scorer in Bradley Beal plus Jayson Tatum and Kyrie Irving who have a combined 52.1 points per game average so far this season.
Comparing the NBA All-Star Game rosters, Team Durant (without KD, who will not play) has the edge in points.
But Team LeBron has the edge is almost every other major category this season. https://t.co/RDGy0Lno8l pic.twitter.com/Q3YrwkME0z
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) March 5, 2021
Even with the clear scoring advantage, it's bet against Team LeBron who obviously looks like a more balanced unit – this goes for both the starting unit all the way to the reserves.
They have an elite scorer in Damian Lillard and their defense is stacked with guys like Jaylen Brown, Ben Simmons, and two-time DPOY Rudy Gobert. Though they won't really need more length having LeBron and Giannis in their squad, they do have a guy like Domantas Sabonis who's averaging 21 and 11 this season. It surely helps, too that they have two-way stars like Chris Paul and Paul George to help stabilize everything.
Team Durant also lacks in All-Star experience since he ended up picking three of the four stars who are making their ASG debut on Sunday namely Zion Williamson, Zach LaVine, and Julius Randle. On the contrary, Team LeBron only has one first-time All-Star in Jaylen Brown.
Obviously, the newbies in Durant's squad are incredible talents but, when things go down the wire, some All-Star experience might come in handy. Will having young guys like Devin Booker and Donovan Mitchell help or hurt them? We'll just have to wait and see.
Needless to say that stats and numbers all go out the window once ASG begins. We've seen crazier things happen in the past so a scenario where Team Durant hands Team LeBron their butts definitely isn't out of the question. At the end of the day though, it's hard to count out a team led by a 17-time All-Star and who's riding a current three-game ASG win streak.
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