lebron james-kyrie irving-nba all-star draft-steph curry-kevin durant Oct 17, 2017; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) and Boston Celtics guard Kyrie Irving (11) meet after the Cavs beat the Celtics 102-99 at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Despite not being televised, the inaugural NBA All-Star Draft has provided the league and its fans loads of welcome drama. From mock drafts to trash talk to examinations of LeBron James’ relationship with Kyrie Irving, this event no one got to see has offered loads of entertainment to basketball junkies over the past couple days.

The players have clearly been into it as well, with Kevin Durant gloating about reportedly being picked first, Kevin Love joking that he probably went last and Russell Westbrook thinking he was last before being told the list he saw was simply in alphabetical order.

But for the most part, all discussion about the draft order has been mere speculation… until Friday afternoon, when Jackie MacMullan appeared on Around the Horn and dished on the order that LeBron James and Steph Curry selected their starters (and the first reserve). Per Jackie Mac, here’s how it went down:

  1. LeBron selects Kevin Durant
  2. Steph selects Giannis Antetokounmpo
  3. LeBron selects Anthony Davis
  4. Steph selects James Harden
  5. LeBron selects Kyrie Irving
  6. Steph selects Joel Embiid
  7. LeBron selects DeMarcus Cousins
  8. Steph selects DeMar DeRozan

And with the first pick of the reserve portion of the draft, Steph reportedly went with his teammate and Splash Brother, Klay Thompson.

“That’s a little what we call inside information,” MacMullan said.

So there you have it. Or at least the first half of it. And not to toot our own horns here, but the actual results were awfully damn close to what we came up with in our mock earlier this week.

Anyway, maybe the fact that the draft order leaked, as was inevitable, will make the NBA realize in time for next year that this event needs to be on television. Hell, don’t even bother televising the All-Star Game itself. Just give us the draft.

About Alex Putterman

Alex is a writer and editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. He has written for The Atlantic, VICE Sports, MLB.com, SI.com and more. He is a proud alum of Northwestern University and The Daily Northwestern. You can find him on Twitter @AlexPutterman.