LeBron vs. Curry: Who drafted the better team?

The All-Star rosters are set for February's showdown and the new format seems to be a hot topic.

Now that the two captains have finished their draft, there are questions that need to be answered: What advantages does each squad possess? Which team has the better chance to go home with the win?

Team LeBron advantages

A good place to start is LeBron James. Anytime you have the best player in the world, it's a major advantage. He is still the dominating force he's always been, and despite the recent struggles for the Cavaliers, he's still maintained gaudy numbers.

James drafted Kevin Durant with his first overall pick. Shocking, right? Considered as the second best player in the world, Team LeBron should have no trouble scoring in an already defenseless game.

A key to James' drafting strategy was size. With Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins in the starting lineup, and Kristaps Porzingis, Kevin Love, and LaMarcus Aldridge coming off the bench, Team LeBron has a scary combination of post scorers that can hit the three. Size also comes into play when discussing the guards, where James drafted the biggest and fastest available in John Wall and Russell Westbrook.

James also picked up his old running mate amid the controversy between them as Kyrie Irving will get the nod as Team LeBron's starting point guard. Sure, they're conference rivals now and they supposedly didn't get along as well as Cavalier fans would have hoped, but they know how to play together and they do it well. It's fair to assume transition buckets will be easy to produce with these two.

It's important to note that there are a few former All-Star game MVP's on Team LeBron. Four players have won a combined seven MVP awards - James (two), Durant, Irving, Westbrook (two), and Davis. Conversely, Team Stephen has zero on his squad.

Team Stephen advantages

The game seems stacked up against Team Stephen. They don't have the size to compete, but they do have the superior shooting with Stephen Curry leading the way next to James Harden. Throw in Klay Thompson, Damian Lillard, and Kyle Lowry and you have arguably the five best shooters on the court.

As for how they'll matchup despite their inferior size? They do have the better defenders. With Joel Embiid, Draymond Green, and Al Horford, Team Stephen has three of the best defenders in basketball who are capable of picking up perimeter players on switches and slowing down dominant post-play.

Credit to Curry, he drafted solid teammates and chemistry players. He drafted the Toronto Raptors pairing of DeMar DeRozan and Lowry, he has the Minnesota Timberwolves superstars Jimmy Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns, and he even picked up two of his fellow buddies from Golden State in Green and Thompson. It's likely if he had the first pick, Curry would have taken the fourth Warrior in Durant, but it's fair to assume this roster may work better as a unit.

Lastly, let's just give a quick shoutout to Curry for drafting Giannis Antetokounmpo. Curry joked that he would draft him after last year's embarrassing defensive effort on an Antetokounmpo dunk. Well, Curry certainly made sure the Greek Freak would be putting on a show for his own squad this time around.

Which team is better?

Upon initial analysis, it's almost laughable how dominant Team LeBron is on paper. The size and history of dominating All-Star competition makes it easy to assume it should be a one-sided affair.

However, take a second to remember some basic math. Three points are greater than two, and Team Stephen has a lot of 3-point shooters. If anything, Team Stephen could keep it close enough to shoot their way to victory. They have the stronger defenders, the better shooters, and the chemistry.

Score Prediction