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2023 NBA All-Star Game roster announcement: Joel Embiid, Ja Morant lead list of reserve selections

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The NBA's marquee regular-season showcase officially has its pool of players. On Thursday, the NBA announced the 14 reserves who will be joining the 10 starters in Salt Lake City for the 2023 All-Star Game later this month. The coaches from each conference picked two guards, three front-court players and two wildcards for the honor. Those players will be put in the draft pool to be selected by captains LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo on the day of the All-Star Game.

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Guard

Jrue Holiday

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Guard

Jaylen Brown

Ja Morant

Frontcourt

Joel Embiid

Domantas Sabonis

Frontcourt

Julius Randle

Lauri Markkanen

Frontcourt

Bam Adebayo

Jaren Jackson Jr.

Wildcard

DeMar DeRozan

Damian Lillard

Wildcard

Tyrese Haliburton

Paul George

Those 14 players will be joined by the following 10 starters to give us our official 24-man All-Star pool. 

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Guard

Kyrie Irving

Stephen Curry

Guard

Donovan Mitchell

Luka Doncic

Frontcourt

Kevin Durant

LeBron James

Frontcourt

Jayson Tatum

Zion Williamson

Frontcourt

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Nikola Jokic

Haliburton is the only first-time selection in the Eastern Conference, but there are a few other interesting nuggets in the field. Holiday, for example, is notable for being forced to wait a full decade between his first All-Star selection, which came in 2013 as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers, and his second, which comes in 2023 as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks (Holiday and Antetokounmpo), Nets (Durant and Irving) and Celtics (Tatum and Brown) are the only Eastern Conference teams to produce multiple All-Stars this season.

The Western Conference features a few more fresh faces. Jackson, Gilgeous-Alexander and Markkanen will all play in their first All-Star Game, while Morant is in his second and Sabonis is in his third. George and Lillard have both been here plenty, so there's a bit of experience in the conference to balance out the youth. The Grizzlies, currently sitting in the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, are the only team with multiple All-Stars (Morant and Jackson).

Just because we've named 24 All-Stars does not mean that the rosters are officially complete yet. It is unclear whether or not players like Durant and Williamson will be Healthy enough to play, and injuries up until All-Star Weekend could force a new face or two into the mix. If injury replacements are necessary, they are named by the commissioner, Adam Silver.

In previous seasons, the two captains (James and Antetokounmpo) would be drafting from this pool of players well in advance of the All-Star Game. This season's tweak will have them selecting their rosters on the day of the All-Star Game itself. We don't yet know who each of them will pick, but we at least know which players they'll be able to choose from. 

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