Will you send a harsh letter to the league office? Or are you the type to just vent on a social media platform?
All-Star selections have a certain knack for bringing out a unique kind of frustration among fans over not seeing their player get selected, and that time has arrived for NBA fans. As the depth of talent continues to surge in the league, it makes picking these teams that much more difficult. Looking at the names that have missed out, you could easily name a third all-star team that would be very competitive.
To recap, Giannis Antetokounmpo will captain the East with Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, Damian Lillard, and Tyrese Haliburton slated to start alongside him. In the West, LeBron James will be team captain and start beside Nikola Jokic, Kevin Durant, Luka Doncic, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Rosters were finalized Thursday night as the seven remaining spots for each conference were named live on TNT’s Inside the NBA by Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith
There is so much talent in the league now that it does feel like switching to 15 spots for each conference makes more sense, but that’s a debate for another day. For now, it leaves us with more snubs to debate so let’s get to it:
BIGGEST SNUBS:
Scottie Barnes, Toronto Raptors: Now firmly the face of the Raptors franchise, Scottie Barnes has been doing it all in his third season. Through 47 games, he has averaged 20.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.5 blocks while shooting 36 per cent from three despite entering the season having shot below 30 per cent over his first two years. Only three other players are putting up those numbers or better across the board: Joel Embiid, Luka Doncic, and Nikola Jokic.
The leap Barnes has made at the three-point line is the improvement that stands out the most, but he has made a notable improvement in his defence relative to last season as well as his playmaking. All of it wasn’t enough for voters to ignore that Toronto sits at a not so pretty 17-30 on the season. It’s clearly not a case that Barnes wasn’t deserving, but instead that all-star spots are a game of musical chairs and the team’s record left him without a seat.
All is not lost yet, though, as Randle is expected to miss two to three weeks due to a dislocated shoulder while Joel Embiid is also dealing with a knee injury. Commissioner Adam Silver would pick injury replacements if the need arises.
Derrick White/Kristaps Porzingis, Celtics: As a two-way guard, you’d be hard pressed to find too many better than Derrick White this season. Looking like a key bench piece when the Celtics first acquired him, trading away Marcus Smart opened the door for White to do more and he has stormed through to show his immense value on a contending team. On the season, White is averaging 15.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists while shooting 53.3 per cent on twos, 40 per cent on threes, and 89.5 per cent at the line.
Kristaps Porzingis was developing a reputation of putting up big numbers on a bad team but he has rubbished those claims through big performances that have made him look like the second-most impactful player on the best team in the league. Averaging 19.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks while shooting over 50 per cent from the field and nearly 36 per cent from three, Porzingis is a major reason why Boston has fortified its title aspirations. The biggest knock against his all-star claim is having missed 14 of the team’s 48 games through injury.
De’Aaron Fox/Domantas Sabonis Kings: Averaging 27.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.6 steals, De’Aaron Fox’s numbers scream all-star. A career 32 per cent three-point shooter entering this season, he’s even elevated his three-point shooting to 38 per cent this season and has already made more threes than all of last season. So, what gives?
If there is a gripe to be had with Fox’s resume this season, it’s that he’s shooting just 72.4 per cent from the stripe. The bigger factor, though, is probably that the Kings haven’t exactly kicked on from the darling rise of last season.
If Fox is Sacramento’s steering wheel, Domantas Sabonis is the engine. In addition to supplying close to 20 points per game, he is seventh in the league in assists per game while leading the league in rebounding. His bully ball style in and around the basket is in stark contrast to his silky smooth passing from the elbows and he’s quite comfortably the best passing big man in the league not named Jokic.
Rudy Gobert, Wolves: It tells you something about how the media covers the NBA that there’s plenty of room to debate whether the East-leading Boston Celtics deserve up to four all-stars while the West-leading Minnesota Timberwolves are left with just two representatives in Anthony Edwards and Karl Anthony Towns .
Minnesota has the best defensive efficiency in the league and Rudy Gobert is arguably the leading candidate for Defensive Player of the Year (again). It also says something about how much offence is valued over defence that Gobert has hardly been an afterthought in these discussions. Averaging 13.3 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks, his numbers don’t scream all-star but his impact certainly does.
Jimmy Butler, Heat: Kawhi Leonard may have coined the phrase, “There’s 82 games and for me these are just practices,” but no one would bat an eye if it was attributed to Jimmy Butler. He has looked like a top three player in the East over the course of the past four post-seasons and it shouldn’t surprise anyone if he repeats the trick again. He hasn’t quite been able to scale those heights in the regular season, and missing 15 of Miami’s 48 games don’t do him any favours.
Butler has put up 21.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 1.2 steals while shooting nearly 50 per cent from the field, 43.7 per cent from three, and 87.9 per cent from the line. Butler is someone who would rather just be on vacation during the all-star break anyway so there won’t be any lost sleep over not having to be in Indiana.
James Harden, Clippers: Since Nov. 17, the Clippers have a league-best 28-8 record and plus-10.2 net rating. Kawhi Leonard is ridiculously efficient and the Clippers have plenty of outside shooting, but the manner in which James Harden has been able to run the offence has been something the team has sorely lacked. Remember all the jokes about this team having better point guards on its coaching staff than its roster? That’s all over now.
Harden has happily sacrificed some of his scoring to tee up his teammates and the results speak for itself. If it weren’t for all the negative PR Harden has earned with regularly wanting out of three franchises (Houston, Brooklyn, Philadelphia) in just over two years, it’s quite possible Harden would be making the trip to Indiana.
Brandon Ingram/Zion Williamson, Pelicans: LeBron James is LeBron James and Anthony Davis is putting up gargantuan numbers, but the trickle down effect of having two all-stars from a team that is currently ninth in the West is felt more with a team like the Pelicans that sits at 27-21 and probably deserves some kind of representation.
Brandon Ingram is averaging 21.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 5.6 assists on solid efficiency while Zion Williamson has put up 22.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.7 assists but their seasons don’t have quite as much pop on a team where the whole has been greater than the sum of its parts.
Trae Young, Hawks: Despite being 10th in the league in scoring and second in assists, Atlanta’s record of 20-27 was too much to overcome for Trae Young.
One of the best playmakers in the league and a fun player to have throwing those alley-oops to high fliers that fans love seeing in the all-star game, this will be the second straight year that Young misses out.
Alperen Sengun, Rockets: Houston has taken a huge step forward this season and while Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks deserve some credit for bringing their winning mentality and professionalism, there is no bigger reason for the Rockets flirting with a .500 record than Alperen Sengun.
Averaging 21.7 points, 9.2 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 1.2 steals, Sengun has become one of the most fun big men to watch in the league with his ability to attack off the bounce and throw some really snazzy passes.
Jarrett Allen, Cavaliers: When Darius Garland was ruled out for six weeks in mid-December due to a broken jaw after Evan Mobley had already been ruled out for nearly two months with a knee injury a week before that, many experts anticipated Cleveland having a wasted season.
Instead, Jarrett Allen said 'challenge accepted' and has been an absolute beast in putting the Cavs firmly in the mix for the second seed in the East. Allen has averaged 18.2 points, 13.0 rebounds, 1.1 steals, and 1.3 blocks since Dec. 15 while shooting 64.1 per cent from the field and Cleveland has gone 16-4.
