Who would win a USA vs. the world NBA All-Star game?

LOS ANGELES – It’s been discussed probably in barber shops and around water coolers all over America. And that is, what would happen if a team of American-born NBA players had an All-Star game against a team of international players?

Inquiring minds would like to know.

“There’s a lot of talk of the European vs. the U.S. in an All-Star situation, and what team would win,” Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said before Thursday’s 119-115 double-overtime triumph over the Los Angeles Lakers. “That wasn’t the talk 10-15 ago, or 20 years ago.

“When you look at the international pool, it’s deep and it’s young. So it’s exciting and I think it’s great for the game of basketball.”

The pool of international players include Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Rudy Gobert, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Kristaps Porzingis, Jamal Murray, Stephen Adams, Lauri Markkanen, Andrew Wiggins, Domantas Sabonis, Pascal Siakam, Buddy Hield, Nikola Vucevic, Ben Simmons, Deandre Ayton, and Jonas Valanciunas — just to name a few.

A brief list of American-born players: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Davis, Devin Booker, Jimmy Butler, Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal, Zach Levine, Zion Williamson, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Chris Paul, Klay Thompson, James Haden, Jrue Holiday and Bam Adebayo.

Kidd admits the impact the international players are having on the NBA has been extraordinary.

“It’s growing and I think it’s growing extremely fast,’’ he said. “I think the game, when you talk about just the fundamentals being taught, you can see that with Luka, Giannis and the Joker (Jokic). They play the game the right way.”

The last four NBA Most Valuable Player awards have gone to international players – Antetokounmpo in 2018-19 and 2019-20, and Jokic the past two seasons. Meanwhile, Doncic, Jokic and Antetokounmpo are among the favorites to win this season’s MVP trophy, and the most widely discussed player to enter the NBA next season is France center Victor Wembanyama.

“I think we’re just probably getting more respect than we used to,” Doncic said. “We have a lot of international players that are really good.

“People enjoy great basketball players. It doesn’t matter from where you are. They just enjoy it.”

So who would win the star-studded All-Star game? Kidd pondered that thought, then said: “It all depends on who’s the coach.”

After laughter from the assembled media, Kidd said: “That’s just a joke.”

Doncic, however, was serious on the winner when he said: “I’ve got to say the international team, because I’ll be on the international team. But it would be a fun game.”

KIDD/DONCIC ON LEBRON: While Jason Kidd was 38 years old when he was the starting point guard when the Mavs captured the 2011 NBA title, he marvels at what Los Angeles Lakers’ forward LeBron James has been able to do this season at the age of 38.

As for his old self, Kidd said: “At 38 it’s a lot of duct tape that hopefully doesn’t get wet and falls apart. But I think when you look at LeBron and his routine, it’s been a part of just the norm of taking care of his body. You talk about his body, but I think also it starts with his mind and being fresh.”

James is in his 20^th season and is closing in on passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.

“He’s got everything and he’ll achieve something special here,” Kidd said. “He’s within 500 points (of Abdul-Jabbar). What else is there to do?

“I think you can see he still loves to play the game, he loves the competition. He’s a young man at heart, even though he’s 38. When he wakes up, maybe he does jump out of bed, knowing him. But at 38 or 39, your feet sliding across the floor. You’re not picking your feet up. It’s just remarkable that he still has the impact at 38. The numbers that he’s putting up is remarkable.”

Luka Doncic began watching James play when he was growing up in Slovenia. And now, those two go head-to-head whenever their teams play one another.

“LeBron was LeBron,” Doncic said. “Everybody watched him. I couldn’t watch a lot of NBA games because I had to go to school.

“But it’s always a pleasure when you go against players like that, especially LeBron. He’s been in this league for 20 years playing at a high level every single game.”

As a rookie, Doncic was just 5-of-11 from the field and scored only 14 points in his first game against James on Oct. 31, 2018.

“I was pretty nervous,” Doncic said. “Like I said, a guy like that, you watched almost your whole life.

“Playing against him, it was a dream come true. It was a game that I’ll never forget.”

BRIEFLY: Coach Jason Kidd said guard Josh Green is now doing full contact work for the first time since suffering a right elbow sprain Dec. 9 against Milwaukee. “He’s doing great,” Kidd said. “We’ll see how he responds here in the next couple of days, and we’ll continue the workouts and hopefully get him back soon.” . . . Forward Dorian Finney-Smith (right adductor strain) started light contact work on Thursday. Kidd said: “He’s doing great, so we’ll continue to monitor his workouts and see how he does and hopefully start to give him a little bit more light to heavy contact.” Finney-Smith, who was injured Dec. 19, said: “Today is my first day touching another body. I’m getting towards getting out there very soon. If I can guard somebody, I can play.” As far as missing games, he said: “It’s tough, especially knowing what I bring to the team. I want to compete. I rarely miss games, so it sure feels different not being out there with them.” . . . Kidd said center Maxi Kleber started doing light non-contact workouts on Thursday, “and hopefully here in two weeks we can increase that.” Kleber suffered a right hamstring tear during a practice session on Dec. 13. . .Luka Doncic now has 10 triple-doubles this season, and nine of them occurred when he scored at least 30 points. Incredibly, the rest of the players in the NBA have combined for only six 30-point triple-doubles this season. Doncic has 30 career 30-point triple-doubles, which is fifth all-time. James Harden is fourth on that list with 35. . .According to ESPN Stats & Info, Doncic is the first player 23 years old or younger to average 40 points over a 10-game span since Michael Jordan did it in 1986. Doncic also is first player in NBA history to average 40 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists over a 10-game span. . .On James being that rare player who can play all five positions, Jason Kidd said: “I think when you talk about LeBron, Lebron’s in his own category with the way he came into the league. And he never disappointed his fans, his teammates and his owners by winning championships, by being able to help players get paid. At the end of the day he’s about winning. He’s never talked about records. The only thing that he really talked about was trying to win championships, and he’s done that at a very high level. And I’ve said this about Luka, we sometimes can take people for granted. You need to enjoy them while they’re here. It doesn’t look like Father Time is going to get him, but when he does decide to step away we will miss him.”

Twitter: @DwainPrice