The NBA released the rosters for the 2017 All-Star Celebrity Game on Thursday. Despite the best efforts of our truest patriots, President Barack Obama will not be participating. (Maybe next year.) However, there are some fun names to look forward to.
2017 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game roster: No Obama, but we have Mark Cuban and a kid from ‘Stranger Things’
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Mark Cuban, owner of the Mavericks franchise, will compete on West team, facing off against Bucks franchise owner Marc Lasry, the East team’s resident billionaire.
Two rappers with deep ties to basketball will join Cuban on the West team: Romeo “Lil’ Romeo” Miller and his father Master P. Romeo was a two-year scholarship player at USC, though it is believed that he was only offered a full scholarship as a package deal to land his friend DeMar DeRozan. Master P was on two different NBA training camp rosters in the late ’90s.
Reigning Celebrity Game MVP Win Butler, frontman of indie rockers Arcade Fire, will play for the East team. Butler tried to get political in his MVP speech a year ago; he was shut down by Sage Steele. The East team also features professional MC Nick Cannon.
The West team will have Baron Davis and Candace Parker to represent the NBA and WNBA, respectively. (Parker is definitely the best current player on either roster.) The East has Jason “White Chocolate” Williams, the legendary Oscar Schmidt, and Lindsay Whalen. J-Will and Schmidt are going to be loads of fun together.
Here’s the remainder of the East roster, along with what you probably know them from:
- Coach Michael Smith, ESPN personality (His and Hers, SC6)
- Miles Brown (the youngest son on Black-ish, who is 11 years old)
- Tom Cavanagh (he was Ed in Ed and is now Harrison Wells in The Flash)
- Andy Grammer (he did that song “Honey, I’m Good”)
- Jiang Jinfu (a Chinese actor)
- Anthony Mackie (Falcon from the Marvel movies)
- Hasan Minhaj (a hero who hails from the Sacramento area, correspondent on The Daily Show)
- Aaron Sanchez (a Chopped judge [not Geoffrey Zakarian])
And the West roster:
- Coach Jemele Hill, ESPN personality (and the better half of His and Hers and SC6)
- Brandon Armstrong (the guy who does amazing YouTube impressions of players, former first-round pick, definite potential MVP)
- Rachel DeMita (Former D1 player that you likely know best from NBA 2K games)
- Ansel Elgort (Caleb from Divergent and Augustus from The Fault in Our Stars; Shailene Woodley’s muse, essentially)
- Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas from Stranger Things; my favorite non-Hasan Minhaj entrant in this game)
- Peter Rosenberg (co-host of Ebro in the Morning)
- Kris Wu (Chinese-Canadian recording artist and actor)
Smith and Hill will have coaching help. Smith will be joined on the sidelines by Draymond Green and Rocsi Diaz (former 106 & Park host). Hill will be assisted by Kyle Lowry and Fat Joe (who is unlikely to stomp around the sidelines, he’ll probably just lean back).
The Celebrity Game airs at 7 p.m. ET on Feb. 17 on ESPN.
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