Before meeting James for the first time this season, with the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers set to clash Thursday, Horford shared the lessons he learned from the superstar, his perspective on James’ remarkable longevity and his thoughts on James’ longtime domination of the Eastern Conference.

Prior to the Los Angeles Lakers (23-18) taking on the Boston Celtics (31-13) on Thursday night, the NBA and the "Inside the NBA” crew, consisting of Ernie

Darius Garland has been a revelation for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season. The Cavs have been perhaps the biggest breakout team this season, leading the league and the Eastern Conference in total wins with a 36-7 record.

The NBA revealed the starters Thursday night — some of them, anyway — for the revamped All-Star Game, and there wasn’t much in the way of surprises. James is officially an All-Star for the 21st year, and Antetokounmpo is now the ninth player to win the fan vote in back-to-back seasons.

The NBA on Thursday revealed the starters for the revamped All-Star Game, and there wasn’t much in the way of surprises. LeBron James is officially an All-Star for the 21st year.

Coaches select the reserves, after the 10 names for the starters pool were announced last week through a combination of fan voting (50%), media voting (25%) and active player voting (25%).

Wembanyama becomes only the fourth Spurs player to make the All-Star Game in his first or second season. The others are Alvin Robertson in 1986, David Robinson in 1990 and 1991, and Tim Duncan in 1998

The Hawks have a bottom-10 offense, having seen the league’s third-biggest drop in points scored per 100 possessions. Their February schedule offers them just one game (the fewest in the league) against a team — Washington — that currently ranks in the bottom 10 defensively.

Boston University will close its Center for Antiracist Research after less than five years with the departure of founder Ibram X. Kendi.

Victor Wembanyama is one of the league’s very best players. The San Antonio star and reigning Rookie of the Year is an All-Star for the first time, one of the 14 players announced Thursday night as members of the reserve pool for the Feb.

Victor Wembanyama becomes only the fourth Spurs player to make the All-Star Game in his first or second season.

The versatile guard is named to the Western Conference reserves; teammate Norman Powell is not despite averaging a team-best 24 points per game.