In previous years, the NBA All Star Game was always the best players from the Western Conference squaring off against the best players from the Eastern Conference.

Just like All Star festivities in most other professional sport leagues, the NBA All Star Game started to lack excitement, resulting in a massive wave of disinterest.

During the past couple of years, the NBA has been formulating and trying new ways to bring back the excitement for the game that their viewers once held.

This year’s formula consisted of taking the player with the most votes from the East, the player with the most votes from the West and making them team captains of their respective teams.

The captains then took turns selecting players from a pool consisting of all stars from the East and the West.

This allows players from both the East and West to potentially play together on the same team, something that wouldn’t be possible in the years prior.

The pool of players in the All Star Game are selected by a variety of people in the association.

The starters are the players that are picked in the first round and are voted on by fans, players and media. The reserves are saved for the second round of selections and are voted on by the head coaches throughout the league.

LeBron James and Stephen Curry were chosen to be the team captains for this year’s game.

LeBron, the player with the most votes overall, got first pick for the starters. Curry, who had the second most votes overall, got first pick for reserves.

Lebron’s starters consist of DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and LeBron James. His are LaMarcus Aldridge, Bradley Beal, Kevin Love, Victor Oladipo, Kristaps Porzingis, John Wall, and Russell Westbrook.

Curry’s starters are made up of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, DeMar DeRozan, Joel Embiid, and James Harden. His reserves consist of Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, Al Horford, Damian Lillard, Kyle Lowry, Klay Thompson, and Karl-Anthony Towns.

When it comes to the All Star Game, you never know what will happen or who will go off because all the players are known for playing at such a high caliber.

On paper, it looks like LeBron drafted the higher skilled team, indicating that they have the advantage over Curry’s team.

Some things that I will be paying attention to are the reunification of former Thunder teammates and stars Westbrook and Durant, as well as LeBron and Kyrie Irving.

The All Star Game runs from Feb. 16-18.

Courtney Chapman can be reached at [email protected] or @courtneychaps on Twitter.