LeBron James ‘humbled’ by All-Star Game inclusion

LeBron James described his All-Star selection as “super humbling” after being called up for the showpiece game for a 22nd successive year.

The 41-year-old has been named among the reserves for the game at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles on February 15. His inclusion extends his record for the most overall selections and the most consecutive selections.

“Super humbling,” James said after the Los Angeles Lakers lost to the New York Knicks 112-100 last night. “The coaches voted, right, so mad respect to the coaches and them seeing the way I’m still playing at this latter stage of my career.

“And to be able to be an All-Star means a lot to my family, people that have been following my career, my LeBron faithful. They’ve been following my journey and it’s always rewarding just from a humbling standpoint to be able to be rewarded for what you put your work into.”

All-Star Game not high on James’ list of priorities

James missed the first 14 games of the season due to sciatica and admits the All-Star Game was not one of his priorities.

He added: ”I didn’t really think about it. To be honest, it wasn’t a goal of mine to come into the season, miss the first 14 games and say, ‘OK, I need to be an All-Star.’ I just wanted to get back to playing the game at a high level I knew I was capable of, once I kind of worked the rust off [from] missing preseason, training camp, my summer workouts – which I’ve never done in my whole career.”

James will have a familiar face alongside him after the Houston Rockets’ Kevin Durant was also named as a reserve – his 16th selection – as well as Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren, Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards and Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker.

The All-Star Game will feature a new format in 2026 in which two teams of US players and one team of international players (known as the World team) will compete in a round-robin tournament featuring four 12-minute games. The three teams will each have a minimum of eight players.