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Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James warms up in a jersey that pays tribute to the late Kobe Bryant before the start of the NBA game between the Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles, California USA, February 8, 2024. Allison Dinner, EPA-EFE.


epa11138434 Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James warms up in a jersey that pays tribute to the late Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant before the start of the NBA basketball game between the Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles, California USA, 08 February 2024.  EPA-EFE/ALLISON DINNER  SHUTTERSTOCK OUT

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NBA - Denver Nuggets at Los Angeles Lakers

Agence France-Presse

<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:958px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/12010553.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner"></span></span></span></div><p style="text-align:left">Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James warms up in a jersey that pays tribute to the late Kobe Bryant before the start of the NBA game between the Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles, California USA, February 8, 2024. <em><strong>Allison Dinner, EPA-EFE.</strong></em></p><div></div><div><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">WASHINGTON -- NBA All-Stars aren&#x27;t sure who will be the new face of the league once LeBron James is gone, but they are confident the NBA&#x27;s future is in good hands.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Several top stars spoke Saturday on the eve of the 73rd NBA All-Star Game at Indianapolis, where 20-time All-Star selection James, the NBA all-time scoring leader, represents the Los Angeles Lakers at age 39.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">James, a four-time NBA Most Valuable Player and four-time NBA champion, has been the top star in an older generation of talent that includes Golden State&#x27;s Stephen Curry and Phoenix&#x27;s Kevin Durant.</span></div><div><br/></div><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/11/22/23/lebron-james-is-first-to-reach-39000-points" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">READ: LeBron James makes history anew, becomes first to reach 39,000 points</a></div><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/2024/2/6/lebron-giannis-east-and-west-stars-to-use-new-led-nba-all-star-courts-1817">READ: LeBron, Giannis, East and West stars to use new LED NBA All-Star courts</a></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;It will be an amazing league regardless,&quot; said Oklahoma City&#x27;s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. &quot;He has done amazing things for this league and for the game of basketball. You don&#x27;t want to take him for granted, obviously. But when he&#x27;s gone, it will still be great.&quot;</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Younger stars are already having an impact on the league with two-time NBA Most Valuable Players Nikola Jokic of Denver and Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee winning titles and a host of others chasing crowns, including Dallas guard Luka Doncic, Minnesota&#x27;s Anthony Edwards, Phoenix&#x27;s Devin Booker, Philadelphia&#x27;s Joel Embiid and Gilgeous-Alexander among them.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;There&#x27;s a lot of guys to pick from in this group of 24 that are here,&quot; Curry said. &quot;You see Luka, Ant, Shai, guys that are really coming into their prime... but have a perspective of what that means within the on-court/off-court opportunities.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;The league is in pretty good hands when it comes to young talent that I think gets it and understands the magnitude of the platform we all have and will respect it as they come into their own.&quot;</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Indiana&#x27;s Tyrese Haliburton expects players who lead their teams to success will spearhead the next generation.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;We got a lot of different guys that it could be,&quot; he said. &quot;The league is in great hands. It&#x27;s the most talent that has even been in this league.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;To be the face of the league, winning has to come with that. Whatever young guy takes that charge and is winning moving forward, that&#x27;s probably who it will be.&quot;</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Durant says it&#x27;s not so much about one face for the future of the NBA as it is a collection of talent who inspire the next generation on and off the court.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;I&#x27;m going to miss a lot of guys,&quot; Durant said. &quot;But you see Shai, Ant, Book, Luka, (Philadelphia&#x27;s) Tyrese Maxey, Tyrese Haliburton. There are so many guys inspiring the next generation of hoopers after them to become basketball players that you can&#x27;t just pinpoint it to one or two guys.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;It&#x27;s about pushing the game forward, setting a different standard for how we play. These guys are doing it right now.&quot;</span></div><div style="display:block"><div data-testid="soc-med-with-author-and-date" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:flex;flex-flow:wrap;width:966px;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0px;position:relative;-webkit-box-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between"><br/></div></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/2024/2/2/curry-davis-among-nba-all-star-reserves-1206">READ: Curry, Davis among NBA All-Star reserves</a></div><div><br/></div><div><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><strong>- Wemby insanely dominant -</strong></span></div><div><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><strong><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/12033180.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Team Pau center Victor Wembanyama (L) dunks against Team Detlef during the second game of the NBA All-Star 2024 Panini Rising Stars Game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, February 16, 2024. <em>Brian Spurlock, EPA-EFE.</em></span></span></span></strong></span></div><div><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Among those Durant looks forward to watching in the future NBA is 2023 NBA Draft top pick </span><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/2024/1/31/french-rookie-wemby-a-mid-season-sales-star-for-nba-905"></a><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/2024/1/31/french-rookie-wemby-a-mid-season-sales-star-for-nba-905">Victor Wembanyama</a></span><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, the 7-foot-4 (2.24m) French rookie for San Antonio.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;Man, that dude can achieve anything he wants in this game. He&#x27;s only getting more comfortable as time goes on,&quot; Durant said. &quot;It&#x27;s just insane how dominant he&#x27;s going to be as he gets more comfortable.&quot;</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Boston&#x27;s Jayson Tatum hopes to be in the talk for the next face of the NBA.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;When LeBron retires, the face of the league, that&#x27;s tough, but we win a championship, I&#x27;ve got something to say about it, I know that,&quot; Tatum said.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;The league is in a great place right now, the amount of high-character guys, of talent throughout the NBA.&quot;</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Antetokounmpo isn&#x27;t writing off a 40-something star turn for Lebron, either.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;I think LeBron is going to play seven to 10 more years. There&#x27;s no sign of him slowing down. It&#x27;s year 21, and he&#x27;s playing incredible,&quot; the Greek star said of James.</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">When it comes to Wembanyama, the Greek big man offered this advice: &quot;Be 100 times better than Giannis. He doesn&#x27;t need to be Giannis. He&#x27;s going to be Victor.&quot;</span></div><div><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">© Agence France-Presse</span></div><div><br/></div><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/2024/2/17/wembanyama-s-team-upset-in-nba-rising-stars-clash-1250">READ: Wembanyama&#x27;s team upset in NBA &#x27;Rising Stars&#x27; clash</a></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div>

<p>NBA All-Stars aren't sure who will be the new face of the league once LeBron James is gone, but they are confident the NBA's future is in good hands.</p>

NBA All-Stars aren't sure who will be the new face of the league once LeBron James is gone, but they are confident the NBA's future is in good hands.

All-Stars say NBA future in good hands once LeBron is gone

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All-Stars say NBA future in good hands once LeBron is gone

Agence France-Presse

Published Feb 18, 2024 01:13 PM PHT

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Updated Feb 18, 2024 01:43 PM PHT

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