Now that the NBA has switched its All-Star Game format to a playground “line up and pick teams” style event, a new made for TV event has been created. For whatever reason, that event wasn’t put on TV last year. that will change in 2019 when TNT airs the All-Star Player Draft for the first time.
In order for the event to be put on TV, both the NBA and the NBA Players Association had to sign off. Marc Stein of the New York Times says that while specifics are being worked out, the two sides have agreed to televise the event ahead of All-Star Weekend 2019 in Charlotte.
The first step will be selecting a date for the draft. Stein reports that the end of January is in the league’s crosshairs, but the exact date will depend on the availability of the two captains, once they are named.
The captains will select eleven players. The pool of players will be selected in a number of different ways. The top vote getter in each conference will serve as team captain. They will first have to select from the other eight fan-voted starters. Players and coaches will select who makes up the other 14 players in the group.
