Who wouldn’t relish the chance to play one game with the king of the basketball court?
Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry reacted with pleasure to the NBA All-Star Game changes, telling ESPN’s Nick Friedell on Wednesday he supports scrapping the East vs. West format in favor of one in which captains pick their teams from a collective pool of 24 All-Stars.
“I think it’s great for the game to kind of spice it up a little bit,” Curry said. “Give the fans a little bit more interest in how the teams are going to unfold. It’s great to follow how the 24-man rosters are voted on by the fans and the coaches but now there’s another element of mixing the East and the West and giving different combinations of guys out there on the floor. So it should be a pretty cool vibe to test it out and see how it goes.”
Given his status as the top vote-earner in 2015, Curry is a leading candidate to captain one of the teams in 2018. He revealed he’d probably pick one of his Warriors teammates first this season.
“It would be messed up if it wasn’t,” Curry said. “That’s kind of the cool thing about it, following whoever the two guys who are picking, how their rosters kind of take shape. It will probably be some tough decisions in there which I think would be good for the game.”
What about lining up with LeBron James, with whom Curry has never played before?
“I would assume he’d be a captain, too,” Curry said. “But it gives you the opportunity to play with guys you’ve never played with before. Obviously, I’ve never been on a team with LeBron. He’s never been on a team with me. I could say that about a bunch of different guys in the league so that’s kind of what the new format can lead to.”
If James isn’t a captain, the other team probably would pick him with its first selection. Therefore, Curry and James likely will remain rivals, even in non-competitive exhibitions like the revamped NBA All-Star Game.
Thumbnail photo via David Richard/USA TODAY Sports Images
