Which All-Stars Should LeBron Draft? (and why it matters)
At 3pm today, Lebron and Giannis, the two All-Star captains, will draft their All-Star rosters.'Bron is picking first and the question, as always, is how the (real) Lakers can improve their roster for a host of championship runs moving forward.
You think this All Star game has nothing to do with winning titles? Think again.
LeBron has two goals to achieve with his All-Star pick
- Subtly recruit a superstar
- Win the All-Star game MVP and inform the league that Lebron, and thus the Lakers, are back
Here is the order in which Lebron should prioritize drafting players, with irrefutable reasoning for each.
8. James Harden
Harden would likely hog the ball too much, and might win the MVP by scoring 50 points on free throws. No way.
7. Paul George
PG-13 choose OKC over the Lakers, no need to reward him with an All-Star win.
6. Kemba Walker.
I love Kemba Walker and would love to have him in LA next year, but if the Anthony Davis situation has taught us anything it’s that small markets can not stand the Lakers. Charlotte would probably call for a tampering investigation if LeBron drafted Kemba so better to play it safe.
5. Joel Embiid.
Embiid might give LeBron the best chance of winning the game considering he’s the only true center out of the starters. But, he’s fairly committed to Philadelphia and his contract isn’t up for a while.
4. Kawhi Leonard.
The worst thing that could happen is that Kawhi, the best one-on-one defender in the league, has a killer night and completely stops Lebron. Drafting him on your team removes this possibility, and maybe shows him what things could be like with the Lakers next season? Who knows.
3. Steph Curry
Steph is the safe pick here, politically speaking. If LeBron and his crew (who are no doubt thinking all of this over) decide that the best play here is to ruffle the least amount of feathers, then picking Steph, who is likely a Warrior-for-Life, would be smart. It would be wicked easy to dish open 3s to The Chef, putting LeBron in easy triple-double territory. Plus, LeBron can whisper sweet nothings into Curry’s ear about how the splash brothers might be breaking up this summer.
2. Kevin Durant
Picking Durant is the opposite of picking Steph, it's the chaos pick. Drafting KD first would immediately ramp up speculation about him leaving the Warriors. And while The Slim Reaper has made it fairly clear that he’s not wanting to go to the Lakers next season, all it would take is a few alley-oops and smiles between the two superstars for ESPN to run a 12 hour segment about their inevitable teaming up the following day.
And anyways, if someone were to accuse LeBron of tampering with this pick, he would have the cover of saying that he picked KD first last year too and they won.
(Typing this out now, I’m realizing that this is such a good idea that I would be surprised if KD hasn’t texted LeBron and asked not to be chosen first.)
1. Kyrie Irving
Kyrie "had to call ‘Bron" to apologize about the way he acted when they were in Cleveland. And tonight, ‘Bron has to call ‘rie. Drafting Kyrie would be a beautiful coming together of former teammates - two championship winning brothers whose dynasty was cut short by the cruel trappings of fame *wipes tear*.
This would be a reunion so touching that we might almost forget that Kyrie is a free agent this summer and has basically told everyone to f-off and not talk to him until July 1st when it comes to where he’s playing next year.
Oh, and the Lakers play the Celtics tonight.