By: Ben McCormick
January 26, 2023
Former Blue Devils Kyrie Irving, Jayson Tatum, and Zion Williamson were named NBA All-Star starters for the NBA All-Star game which will take place on Sunday Feb. 19. The All-Star reserves will be announced next Thursday, Feb. 2.
This will be the 8th All-Star appearance for Irving during his 12 year career, which gives him the most appearances of any Blue Devil ever. He was previously tied with Grant Hill with seven. For Tatum, this will be his 4th consecutive appearance during his six year NBA career. That is good for the third highest total of appearances of any Blue Devil ever. Williamson is now a 2-time All-Star in just four seasons as a pro.
This is not the first time the trio has started in the same All-Star game, in 2021 all three started for Team Durant. However, Williamson and Tatum only started due to injuries to the voted starters. This season all three were properly voted in as starters.
The five starters in the East are as follows: Kyrie Irving (G- BKN), Donovan Mitchell (G- CLE), Giannis Antetokounmpo (F- MIL) *Captain*, Kevin Durant (F- BKN), and Jayson Tatum (F- BOS).
The five starters in the West are as follows: Stephen Curry (G- GSW), Luka Doncic (G- DAL), LeBron James (F- LAL) *Captain*, Zion Williamson (F- NOP), and Nikola Jokic (C- DEN).
Antetokounmpo and James will select the starters and reserves for their teams in a backyard ball "pick for teams" style right before the game on the day of.
NBA All-Star Appearances by player (former Duke players): Kyrie Irving (8), Grant Hill (7), Jayson Tatum (4), Jeff Mullins (3), Zion Williamson (2), Luol Deng (2), Carlos Boozer (2), Elton Brand (2), Jack Marin (2), Brandon Ingram (1), and Christian Laettner (1).
@Duke_Wisdom
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