NEW YORK, United States of America, January 31, 2020/APO Group/ --

Six First-Time All-Stars Among Reserves: Adebayo, Gobert, Ingram, Mitchell, Sabonis and Tatum; NBA All-Star Draft to Air on TNT on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. ET.

Former Kia NBA All-Star MVPs Chris Paul of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Russell Westbrook of the Houston Rockets lead the list of 14 players selected by the NBA’s head coaches as reserves for the 2020 NBA All-Star Game in Chicago.

The 69^th NBA All-Star Game – Team LeBron vs. Team Giannis – will take place on Sunday, Feb. 16 at the United Center, airing live at 8 p.m. ET on TNT and ESPN Radio in the United States.  The NBA All-Star Game will reach fans in more than 200 countries and territories in more than 40 languages.

Paul has earned his 10^th NBA All-Star selection and Westbrook has been named an All-Star for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons.  Joining Paul and Westbrook as reserves from the Western Conference are Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert and guard Donovan Mitchell, New Orleans Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić and Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard.

The reserves selected from the Eastern Conference are Miami Heat center/forward Bam Adebayo and forward Jimmy Butler, Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry, Milwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton, Indiana Pacers forward Domantas Sabonis, Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons and Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum.

Gobert, Ingram and Mitchell from the Western Conference and Adebayo, Sabonis and Tatum from the Eastern Conference comprise the six first-time NBA All-Star selections among reserves.  With 2020 NBA All-Star Game starters Luka Dončić, Pascal Siakam and Trae Young also making their All-Star debuts, this marks the first time in 10 years that at least nine players are first-time All-Star selections in the same season.

In addition, with Gobert (France), Jokić (Serbia), Sabonis (Lithuania) and Simmons (Australia) joining starters Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece), Dončić (Slovenia), Joel Embiid (Cameroon) and Siakam (Cameroon), a record eight international players have been selected to the 2020 NBA All-Star Game.       

Team captains LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers and Antetokounmpo of the Bucks will draft the NBA All-Star Game rosters from the pool of players voted as starters and reserves in each conference.  The team rosters will be revealed on TNT in a special 2020 NBA All-Star Draft presented by Jordan Brand show on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. ET.

James and Antetokounmpo will make their picks without regard for a player’s conference affiliation or position.  Each captain will choose 11 players to complete a 12-man roster.  The 2020 NBA All-Star Draft rules include:

• The eight starters (aside from James and Antetokounmpo) will be drafted in the First Round.
• The 14 reserves will be drafted in the Second Round.
• As the top overall vote-getter among fans, James will have the first pick in the First Round (Starters).  Antetokounmpo will have the first pick in the Second Round (Reserves).
• The captains will alternate picks in each round until all players in that round have been selected.

The 14 All-Star Game reserves were selected by the NBA’s 30 head coaches.  The coaches voted for seven players in their respective conferences – two guards, three frontcourt players and two additional players at either position group.  They were not permitted to vote for players from their own team.

The 10 All-Star Game starters, unveiled last week, were selected by fans, current NBA players and a media panel.  The Eastern Conference starter pool is Milwaukee’s Antetokounmpo, Philadelphia’s Embiid, Toronto’s Siakam, Boston’s Kemba Walker and Atlanta’s Young.  The Western Conference starter pool is James, the Lakers’ Anthony Davis, the Dallas Mavericks’ Dončić, Houston’s James Harden and the LA Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will select the replacement for any player unable to participate in the All-Star Game, choosing a player from the same conference as the player who is being replaced. 

Lakers head coach Frank Vogel and his staff have earned the spot to coach Team LeBron.  Team Giannis will be led by the head coach from the Eastern Conference team with the best record through games played on Sunday, Feb. 2.  Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer is ineligible because he served as a head coach in last year’s All-Star Game.

Below is a closer look at the NBA All-Star Game reserves and a complete list of this year’s All-Star selections.

2020 NBA All-Star Game Reserves

Western Conference Player Pool

• Rudy Gobert, Jazz (1^st All-Star selection): The two-time reigning Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year is the second French player to become an NBA All-Star (along with Tony Parker) and joins Toronto’s Siakam and Milwaukee’s Middleton as NBA G League veterans turned NBA All-Stars. 

• Brandon Ingram, Pelicans (1^st All-Star selection): Voted an All-Star in his first season with New Orleans, the 22-year-old Ingram competed in NBA Rising Stars in both 2017 and 2018.

• Nikola Jokić, Nuggets (2^nd All-Star selection): The Serbian center, who turns 25 three days after the 2020 NBA All-Star Game (Feb. 19), is the first Nuggets player to earn back-to-back All-Star selections since Carmelo Anthony in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons. 

• Damian Lillard, Trail Blazers (5^th All-Star selection): Lillard has become the second player to make five All-Star Games with Portland, joining Clyde Drexler (eight with the Trail Blazers).

• Donovan Mitchell, Jazz (1^st All-Star selection): The 2018 Slam Dunk champion and two-time NBA Rising Stars participant joins Gobert to give Utah multiple All-Star selections for the first time since the 2006-07 season (Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur).   

• Chris Paul, Thunder (10^th All-Star selection): Paul was selected as an All-Star nine consecutive seasons from 2007-08 through 2015-16.  He was named the Kia NBA All-Star MVP in 2013.

• Russell Westbrook, Rockets (9^th All-Star selection): Westbrook is the only player to win the Kia NBA All-Star MVP Award outright in back-to-back years (2015 and 2016). 

Eastern Conference Player Pool

• Bam Adebayo, Heat (1^st All-Star selection): The third-year NBA player is an All-Star in his first season as a full-time starter.  He was selected by Miami with the 14^th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, one spot behind Mitchell, another first-time All-Star this season.

• Jimmy Butler, Heat (5^th All-Star selection): Butler, who averaged 6.6 points per game over his first two NBA seasons as the 30^th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, has earned five All-Star selections in the last six seasons.

• Kyle Lowry, Raptors (6^th All-Star selection): With his sixth consecutive All-Star nod, Lowry becomes the first player to be named to at least six All-Star teams after not being selected in any of his first eight seasons. 

• Khris Middleton, Bucks (2^nd All-Star selection): This is the second straight All-Star honor for Middleton, who last season became the first player to be named an NBA All-Star after playing in the NBA G League.

• Domantas Sabonis, Pacers (1^st All-Star selection): The runner-up for the 2018-19 Kia NBA Sixth Man Award is the second Lithuanian player to be named an All-Star, joining Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

• Ben Simmons, 76ers (2^nd All-Star selection): The 23-year-old Australian has followed his Kia NBA Rookie of the Year-winning season in 2017-18 with back-to-back All-Star selections.

• Jayson Tatum, Celtics (1^st All-Star selection): Tatum’s first All-Star Game takes place less than three weeks before his 22^nd birthday (March 3).  At NBA All-Star 2019 in Charlotte, Tatum won the Taco Bell^® Skills Challenge and scored 30 points to help the U.S. Team defeat the World Team in Rising Stars.

2020 NBA ALL-STAR GAME SELECTIONS
Starters	Reserves
*Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee) Anthony Davis (Los Angeles Lakers) Luka Dončić (Dallas) Joel Embiid (Philadelphia) James Harden (Houston) *LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers) Kawhi Leonard (LA Clippers) Pascal Siakam (Toronto) Kemba Walker (Boston) Trae Young (Atlanta) *Team Captain	Bam Adebayo (Miami) Jimmy Butler (Miami) Rudy Gobert (Utah) Brandon Ingram (New Orleans) Nikola Jokić (Denver) Damian Lillard (Portland) Kyle Lowry (Toronto) Khris Middleton (Milwaukee) Donovan Mitchell (Utah) Chris Paul (Oklahoma City) Domantas Sabonis (Indiana) Ben Simmons (Philadelphia) Jayson Tatum (Boston) Russell Westbrook (Houston)