The captains will choose the teams on the day of the All-Star game

The NBA All-Star Game takes place on February 19th, and no one will know the lineups until that night.

Not even the players.

The team captains – likely LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers and Giannis Antetekounmo of Milwaukee or Kevin Durant of Brooklyn – will choose their teammates live as part of a televised segment shortly before the game in Salt Lake City.

The NBA and players announced the format change Tuesday.

The sixth edition will be in the form in which the captain chooses their team. In the first five cases, templates were chosen days in advance.

The captain and starters will be announced on Thursday.

James has been a leader in each of the past five editions, and based on the voting results released by the league last week, he’s sure he’ll be back. The leader of the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference vote wins the right to be captain.

Durant was the early voting leader in the East, but fell slightly behind Antetokounmpo in the final vote. He is still expected to be a starter and will be known until Thursday if he regains the lead in voting.

Voting to select the incumbents ended on Saturday.

“I want to play,” Durant told reporters in New York on Tuesday. “I want to be a part of all of those events.”

James’ teams are 5-0 when he’s captain.

Durant has been a top voter for the past two seasons. Antetokounmpo was in the previous two editions, 2019 and 2020.

Three forwards (flankers and center) plus two point guards from each conference are selected as starters. The voting leaders from each conference act as captains and choose their teams.

Fan voting accounts for 50% of the vote, media vote for 25%, and NBA player ballots for the remaining 25%.

The replacements – seven players selected by the coaches – will be announced on February 2.