LeBron James to the West. How will it impact the East?
With LeBron James’ departure, superstar talent between the conferences has reached new levels of disparity. It leaves one to wonder: how obvious will that look in February when the NBA publishes its new All-Star lineups?
NBA’s Compromise
The NBA is not an ignorant bystander to this.
For the 2018 All-Star Game, the league instituted a new format for the contest. The roster of 24 participants remained equal between the conferences, but they ditched the traditional East vs. West lineups. Instead, the highest vote-getting players were team captains. Publicly, the NBA reasoned this change was to provide an incentive for players to take the game more seriously.
Some wondered if it was also a reaction to former Eastern All-Stars like Jimmy Butler, Carmelo Anthony, and Paul George switching sides.
The West looked stacked. The East, not so much. Where the West brought Russell Westbrook, Draymond Green, and Karl-Anthony Towns as reserves, the East brought Al Horford, Bradley Beal, and Goran Dragic. Co-host of Sports Illustrated’s Open Floor podcast, Ben Golliver, regularly refers to the West as “The Show” and the East as “Triple A.”
But at least the East had LeBron James, the NBA’s best and most popular player. The new format led to James and Stephen Curry becoming captains.
The NBA then got exactly what it wanted: mixed teams to play a competitive game with captains who represented each conference. Sure, there were rumblings over the West having too much star-power, but the East’s captain was a top-3 player of all-time.
For the most part, the optics worked.
However, LeBron’s move to Los Angeles undermines this illusion of balance. To show this, let’s compare the 2018 Eastern All-Stars to their Western counterparts.