Starting 5 Daily Newsletter

Starting 5, Jan. 26: All-Star Starters revealed, another Kings-Warriors thriller

Lebron earns 20th straight All-Star start, while a trio earns their first All-Star starts in a jam-packed Thursday night

January 26, 2024 2:36 PM

How good is this Kings-Warriors rivalry right now?

How about three straight meetings decided by a single point?

The last time that’s happened in a single season? 1979 Blazers-Suns.

THE LINEUP 🏀

👀 Must-see from Thursday
7️⃣ Kings-Dubs highlights 7-game night
📝 All-Star: LeBron & the record book
3️⃣ All-Star: Three first-time starters
🎽 Indy All-Star Unis: 2024 vs 1985

📺 Rivals Week doubleheader on NBA TV: The Luka vs. Trae rivalry highlighting Mavs-Hawks (7 ET) will depend on Young’s availability as he’s listed as questionable (concussion protocol). That’s followed by the rubber match between No. 1 pick Wemby and No. 3 pick Scoot Henderson as the Spurs host the Blazers (9:30 ET).

📲 Thunder-Pelicans on NBA App: All-Star starter Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (see Section 4) and the Thunder look to stay atop the West when they face the Pelicans in NOLA (8 ET).

1. FRIDAY MORNING MUST-SEE

All-Star Reveals

The lineups: Watch the Inside the NBA crew unveil the starting lineups for the Eastern and Western Conference
The jersey: East starter Tyrese Haliburton, repping the host city, was the first player to see (and react to) their 2024 All-Star jersey

Dazzling Dishes

Jokic to Gordon (again): At this point, it’s more surprising if Nikola Jokic doesn’t find Aaron Gordon open under the basket with an over-the-head pass
Clutch Showtime: Down 3 with 90 seconds left, Steph Curry shook the defense with consecutive behind-the-back dribbles leading to a scoop lob to Jonathan Kuminga who thew it down

Block Party

With authority: Jarred Vanderbilt emphatically swatted Coby White’s layup attempt into the stanchion
Rim Protection: Lauri Markkanen beat the first line of defense, but Daniel Gafford was ready at the basket for the denial

Great Moments

Game recognize game: After watching Anthony Edwards make plays like this multiple crossover into a pull-up jumper off glass, NBA legend Dwyane Wade had to dap him up courtside after the Minnesota win
More Rock, Paper, Scissors: After seeing the game played to determine which player would sub out, which player would take a technical free throw, now we have fans doing it to see who gets Austin Reaves’ shoes

2. KINGS-WARRIORS DOWN TO THE WIRE (AGAIN)

Career night for Harrison Barnes in Kings-Warriors thriller

Harrison Barnes' career-high 39 points helps Sacramento edge Golden State.

👑 Kings 134, Warriors 133: Former Warrior Harrison Barnes put up a career-high 39 points (with 7 3s) to lead the Kings to a win over their NorCal rivals in a playoff rematch. | Recap

Domantas Sabonis (18 pts, 8 reb, 13 ast) hit the game-winning dunk with 22 seconds left, answering Jonathan Kuminga’s dunk that gave the Warriors their first lead of the second half. Kuminga scored a career-high 31 points as he and Steph Curry (33 pts, 6 3s, including 5 in the first quarter) combined for 64 points.

Three in a row: The Warriors and Kings tied the NBA record with their third straight game decided by a single point. The last matchup to do that was Lakers-Celtics (Feb. 5, 2009 – Feb. 18, 2010). The Kings-Warriors matchup is the first to have all three games happen in the same season in 45 years
Clutch time: It’s fitting that last year’s first-ever Clutch Player of the Year (Fox) and this year’s leader in clutch scoring (Curry) keep playing games that come down to the wire. Watch the two go back-and-forth in the closing minutes

🌇 Lakers 141, Bulls 132: D’Angelo Russell (29 pts, 8 3s), Anthony Davis (22 pts, 11 reb) and 20-time All-Star LeBron James (25 pts, 12 ast, including this alley-oop to AD) combined for 76 points to build a 24-point lead and hold on for the win | Recap

Lights-out shooting: L.A. posted season-best shooting percentages of 60.9% overall and 64.5% (20-of-31) from 3

🍀 Celtics 143, Heat 110: Jayson Tatum had a game-high 26 points as all five Celtics starters scored 15+ points in their largest win (+33) over the rival Heat in franchise history. Boston put up 42 in the first quarter and never looked back. | Recap

Elite company: Tatum became the fifth Celtic with 200 25+ point games, joining Sam Jones, Paul Pierce, John Havlicek and Larry Bird

🗽 Knicks 122, Nuggets 84: OG Anunoby had his best game as a Knick (26 pts, season-high 6 stl) as the Knicks locked down the Nuggets (season-low 84 points) to earn their fifth straight win. Thursday was NY’s fourth win by 25+ points in the past three weeks. | Recap

January’s best: New York is an NBA-best 11-2 since Anunoby’s debut on New Year’s Day

🎷 Jazz 123, Wizards 108: Trailing by nine early in the first, the Jazz closed the quarter on a 30-8 run and never trailed again as they ended a three-game slide. Lauri Markkanen (29 pts, season-high 6 3s) and John Collins (22 pts, 16 reb) combined for 51 in the win. | Recap

Sharing is caring: Utah had 34 assists, including this beautiful ball movement leading to a Walker Kessler reverse dunk

🏎️ Pacers 134, Sixers 122: Pascal Siakam got his first triple-double of the season (26 pts, 13 reb, 10 ast) and his first win as Pacer as Indiana snapped Philadelphia’s six-game win streak despite Joel Embiid scoring 30+ points for the 22nd consecutive game. | Recap

Pascal Postgame: “I want to make this home”

🐺 Wolves 96, Nets 94: Karl-Anthony Towns (27) and Anthony Edwards (24) combined for 51 as the Wolves won while scoring under 100 points – something that’s only been done 11 times in the NBA all season. | Recap

The winning bucket: KAT found Rudy Gobert for the alley-oop for the final points of the night

3. LEBRON & THE ALL-STAR RECORD BOOK

With next month’s trip to Indianapolis, LeBron will surpass 20,000 miles traveled to get to All-Star weekend over the past 20 years.

2005 – Denver
2006 – Houston
2007 – Las Vegas
2008 – New Orleans
2009 – Phoenix
2010 – Dallas
2011 – Los Angeles
2012 – Orlando
2013 – Houston
2014 – New Orleans
2015 – New York
2016 – Toronto
2017 – New Orleans
2018 – Los Angeles
2019 – Charlotte
2020 – Chicago
2021 – Atlanta
2022 – Cleveland
2023 – Salt Lake City
2024 – Indianapolis

With that many trips to the midseason festivities, it’s not surprising to see LeBron’s name found all over the All-Star record book:

20 straight All-Star selections: Breaks the record shared with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
20 straight All-Star starts: Extends his own record, which is three more than any other player all-time (Kobe Bryant, 17 straight, 2000-16) and 12 more than any other active player (Giannis, 8 straight, 2017-24)
426 points: Will extend his own record in Indy – currently 136 more than any other player (Kobe at 290) and 176 more than any active player (Durant at 250)
41 3-pointers: Second all-time to Steph Curry (thanks to his record 16 3s in 2022)
110 assists: Third all-time behind Chris Paul (128) and Magic Johnson (127)
10 wins: Tied for second with Kobe, can tie Oscar Robertson’s record (11) with an East win in Indy
3 MVPs: Tied for the second-most with Oscar Robertson, Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Jordan. Trailing only the award’s namesake, Kobe Bryant, and Bob Pettit with four each

4. 3 FIRST-TIME ALL-STAR STARTERS: DAME, HALI & SGA

In addition to featuring the only 20-time starter in league history, the 2024 All-Star Game sees three new players elevate to starter status.

Damian Lillard: A seven-time Western Conference All-Star during his 11 seasons in Portland, Dame earns his first start in his first season in the East
Tyrese Haliburton: Leads the NBA in assists (12.6 apg), which is on pace to be the highest average in 30 years (John Stockton: 12.6 apg in 1993-94)
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: Leads the NBA in 30+ point games this season with 32, while ranking fourth in scoring (31.1 ppg) and leading the NBA in steals (2.3 spg)

Before Dame, SGA and Hali make their first All-Star starts, we look back at the first All-Star starts for the other seven starters announced on Thursday – in chronological order.

LeBron James (2005): Before wearing a mic and taking the court to put up 13 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals, LeBron collected signatures from his fellow All-Stars in the locker room
Kevin Durant (2011): KD made a late run for MVP, scoring 14 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter as the West held on for the win, but could not supplant Kobe from winning his fourth MVP honor
Giannis Antetokounmpo (2017): Starting in his All-Star debut, Giannis scored 30 points, while dunking on Steph Curry three times, forcing Steph to take cover the rest of the night
Joel Embiid (2018): The only starter among the five first-time All-Stars, Embiid finished with 19 points, eight boards, two blocks and some all-access fun for Team Steph
Luka Doncic (2020): Luka had a busy All-Star weekend, playing in the Rising Stars game (hitting a ridiculous half-court shot) and starting in the All-Star Game, where he finished with eight points and four dimes in 17 minutes
Nikola Jokic (2021): Getting his first start in his third All-Star Game, Jokic finished with six points, seven boards and five dimes in 19 minutes, including this connection with Steph
Jayson Tatum (2021): Tatum’s first start included a fun duel with Celtics teammate Jaylen Brown as the two were drafted to opposing squads. Tatum finished with 21 points, seven assists and four steals

Check out the top plays from each of this year’s starters in their All-Star Game debuts

5. INDIANAPOLIS ALL-STAR UNIFORMS: 2024 VS 1985

In addition to announcing the East and West starting 5s, the NBA also unveiled the 2024 All-Star Game uniforms that will be worn in Indy.

The jerseys, shorts and warm-ups all have an old-school nostalgic look as they draw inspiration from Indiana’s rich basketball history.

Colors: The uniforms feature a tonal twist on the classic red and blue uniforms with cream lettering
Pinstripes: Inspired by the iconic Pacers uniforms of the late 1990s and early 2000s
Logo: The racing stripes featured behind the logoman pay homage to the host city

Before you check out more images and details from this year’s All-Star uniforms, we have to throw it back to the last time NBA All-Star was in Indianapolis in 1985 with these classic photos.