The Western Conference was coached by George Karl from the Seattle SuperSonics and the Eastern Conference was coached by Larry Bird of the Indiana Pacers.
This would be the All-Star debut of Kobe Bryant, who became the youngest All-Star in NBA history at 19 years of age.
A total of 10 players from this game would not play in another All-Star Game: Nick Van Exel, Mitch Richmond, Vin Baker, Anfernee Hardaway, Shawn Kemp, Tim Hardaway, Steve Smith, Glen Rice, Rik Smits and Jayson Williams.
In 1998, Michael Jordan led all the players in All-Star Game votes with 1,028,235 votes from the fans