Here’s your 2020 NBA All-Star mock draft

There’s a lot happening in the NBA right now: the trade deadline is upon us on Thursday, the playoff race is heating up a few degrees as we zip toward the home stretch and NBA All-Star Weekend is just a week away.

In service of that, the NBA will hold its third annual NBA All-Star Draft, the second televised. LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo, 2020 All-Star’s two captains, will draft teams on TNT at 7 p.m. ET. There are rules, of course: starters get picked first, then reserves. LeBron has the first pick for starters. Giannis picks first for reserves. Trades are apparently allowed, based on last season.

I have my war room and my big board ready to go. And here’s what I think is going to happen Thursday night. Let’s mock.

This is a no-brainer unless LeBron plays a practical joke on Davis by taking someone else for giggles.

This is a reminder that James Harden went very late in the starters’ draft last year (seventh out of eight) and that it seems like perhaps Antetokounmpo doesn’t really have a lot of love lost for The Beard given the way that officials in Houston talk about him and his 2019-20 NBA MVP award. Giannis needs a playmaker and is probably drawn to a young European star.

LeBron sure as heck doesn’t want to be on the team playing against Kawhi, even in an exhibition.

Giannis picked Embiid high last season, too. It’s a good grab for size, the only true center among starters.

Kemba going over Harden is a shocker, but there’s just something about The Beard that makes him a lower prospect in these sorts of endeavors. I could be wrong and he could be the second player off the board. But I think I’m right and Kemba will go before him. (Kemba is freaking great.)

Why not go full-on Team World?

Finally, Harden escapes the green room.

I love Trae Young. But to me, there is no question that Young will be the last starter picked. As flashy and fun as he is, he is on a different level than the rest of these nine players. No shots, but it’s true.

Giannis picked his teammate first among reserves last season, too.

Here’s where things get interesting. Does LeBron pick one of his best friends in the world, CP3? Or does he pick a Klutch Sports client and young star he’s mentored in Ben Simmons? I think he goes with CP3 as a nod of respect to his friend’s stunning comeback.

The best player among the reserves. Maybe the third or fourth best player in the whole All-Star Game? This is why the All-Star draft is so funny: the third or fourth best player in the game is probably the 11th pick because of RULES and because of RELATIONSHIPS. So goofy and wonderful.

Now LeBron can claim his protegé. And keep him off of Embiid’s team. To let him flourish. HMMM.

Team Giannis’s international flavor reigns, and Jokic has been one of the best players in the league for about a month now. If the draft plays out like this, Team Giannis is winning.

Tatum has been on fire as of late as well, and while he doesn’t seem like a traditional All-Star high-scorer candidate, his excitement at playing with the legends he’ll share the court with should be really satisfying to people who like to see nice folks be excited and happy.

Let’s hope the Jazz win a game between now and All-Star or Mitchell (a supreme competitor) is going to have trouble smiling.

LeBron reunited with one of the players alienated by his machinations to get the Pelicans to trade Anthony Davis last season. Sounds like a Hallmark movie in the making.

I’m so bummed Karl-Anthony Towns isn’t an All-Star — not because he deserves it (his long injury absence and Minnesota’s downward spiral screwed that), but because Towns vs. Jimmy in this setting would be magical. Like a JV version of Westbrook vs. Durant from 2017.

Westbrook has literally nothing to prove for the first time in ... his life? Unless he reads too many quotes about how he doesn’t deserve his All-Star spot over Devin Booker. By the way, I have Westbrook and Lillard on different teams. That ABSOLUTELY needs to happen. Maybe that’s the source of the chip on Westbrook’s shoulder this time around.

High potential fun for Bam as an All-Star. Also, high potential for three minutes of playing time.

The NBA should donate $10,000 to a charity of Rudy’s choosing for every screen assist in the All-Star Game.

Kyle Lowry absolutely deserves to be an All-Star and absolutely cannot possibly want to play in the All-Star Game.

There is no chance whatsoever that Domantas Sabonis, a wonderful young player deserving of his spot in the game, will be anything but the last pick in the 2020 NBA All-Star Draft. This is LaMarcus Aldridge Memorial All-Star Roster Spot. Someone make Domas a plaque.

Tom Ziller writes and publishes Good Morning It’s Basketball, a daily independent NBA newsletter. Subscribe on Substack.