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Who LeBron James and Stephen Curry drafted 1st in the NBA All-Star draft

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We know the order of the first nine picks, at least according to one reporter.

There’s no good reason to explain why the NBA chose not to televise the All-Star team draft between LeBron James and Stephen Curry. Both stars wanted to, as did the league itself, plus fans, plus journalists — basically everybody. But the player’s association complained enough that the league scrapped the idea, and it took place in a secretive conference call instead.

Except that conference call is quickly becoming less than secret, as many people expected. Kevin Durant confirmed that he was the first overall pick on Thursday, although logically that was the only explanation. On Friday while on ESPN’s Around the Horn, Jackie MacMullan revealed the first nine selections. It’s not confirmed, but MacMullan is a legendary journalistic figure who can be trusted.

(h/t to @ZakKondratenko for the video)

Here’s how the draft went, as we know it.

STARTERS DRAFT

1. Kevin Durant (Team LeBron)

2. Giannis Antetokounmpo (Team Steph)

3. Anthony Davis (Team LeBron)

4. James Harden (Team Steph)

5. Kyrie Irving (Team LeBron)

6. Joel Embiid (Team Steph)

7. DeMarcus Cousins (Team LeBron)

8. DeMar DeRozan (Team Steph)

These picks make sense from a team building perspective. After James drafted Durant and Davis, he needed a point guard and only one was available, his former teammate. But it has never been clear that there’s animosity between the two — James was just disappointed with his decision to request a trade. They hugged on the court after they played each other in the season opener, an emotional affair marred by Gordon Hayward’s gruesome injury.

RESERVES DRAFT

9. Klay Thompson (Team Steph)

10-22. Unknown

That’s all we know right now, but it would make sense that Curry selected his other teammate, Draymond Green, with the 11th pick. Kevin Love ended up on James’ team, so maybe he grabbed his own teammate with the 10th pick, too. I speculated on Thursday that James probably picked John Wall high due to a shared agent. (Antetokounmpo and Curry also share an agent, if you’re wondering about Curry’s first pick.)

On Wednesday, Klay Thompson all but confirmed that he was the first selection.

It’s not guaranteed that the rest of the draft will leak, but we’ll update this post if it does.


Antetokounmpo’s game is so complete he doesn’t need a jump shot

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