A date and location have been finalized for the 2021 NBA All-Star Game.
According to a report from Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, the league and NBPA have reached an agreement to hold the 70th NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta, Georgia on March 7. Charania added that the plan could be finalized on Thursday.
The NBA only released the first half of the 72-game 2020-21 regular season schedule. The All-Star Game hadn't been initially announced, and the second half of the schedule will be revealed at a later date.
The "first half" of the regular season is slated to end on March 4, with the All-Star break taking place from March 5-10. The second half of the season is scheduled to run from March 11 to May 16, with the playoffs beginning on May 2.
Last year's All-Star Game took place at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. Team LeBron defeated Team Giannis by a final score of 157-155.
This will be the third NBA All-Star Game held in Atlanta. The city hosted the 1978 contest at Omni Coliseum, and the 2003 event at Philips Arena (now State Farm Arena, home of the Atlanta Hawks).
Per Gilbert McGregor of NBA.com, Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets and LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers lead the early All-Star voting.
Durant, James and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors have each received over two million votes. They are followed by reigning league MVP Giannis Giannis Antetokounmpo (over 1.752 million votes) of the Milwaukee Bucks and Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers (more than 1.584 million votes).
The rest of the top 10 consists of Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets), Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks), Kawhi Leonard (Los Angeles Clippers), Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards) and Anthony Davis (Lakers).
James has the most All-Star selections among active players with 16. He's earned the honors every year dating back to his 2004-05 sophomore season.