There are always more deserving All-Star candidates than there are places for them, but that’s never been more true than this season. The NBA announced reserves on Tuesday, and chances are you are outraged by some “blunt”.
If you missed it, coaches chose Damian Lillard, Chris Paul, Paul George, Anthony Davis, Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell and Zion Williamson as backups for the Western Conference. In the East, coaches voted for James Harden, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Julius Randle, Nikola Vucevic, Zach LaVine and Ben Simmons.
On March 4, Kevin Durant and LeBron James will line up their teams. The game will be played on March 7th and, unless they are selected as substitutes for injuries, the following players will not be on the field:
Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns
Most coaches wouldn’t pick two Suns and it seems Booker was the victim of Paul’s success. His support rate has understandably dropped now that Paul is around, but he’s even upped his usage rate to 30.3 percent and continued his highly efficient score. This may be a tough pill for Booker to swallow, but hey, as long as his team stays healthy, he’ll have a taste of the playoffs for the first time in a few months. That’s the other side of this.
Mike Conley, Utah Jazz
It’s really surprising that the coaches didn’t pick him as he is universally respected and his team has the best track record in the league. Conley, a 14-year-old veterinarian who barely missed the cut a few times in Memphis, is the sentimental choice to take Davis’s place. He also has a very strong statistical case: per 36 minutes he scores an average of 20.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists at 59.4 percent true shooting. Conley launches 3s at a higher volume and more accurate than ever before, playing a better defense than some of the players selected over him. The Jazz has outperformed opponents on the field by 17.1 points per 100 possessions, which is the highest mark in the entire league.
Khris Middleton, Milwaukee Bucks
Middleton made the cut in 2019 and 2020, but missed it this time because his team was not that dominant (and the East has an uncountable number of deserving candidates). Individually though, he’s been significantly better this season, so this feels a bit weird. Milwaukee has endorsed Middleton as a playmaker and he averages 6.2 assists per 36 minutes of his career. His .505 / .431 / .895 shootings are insane.
Bam Adebayo, Miami Heat
Another player who has taken a step forward after an All-Star season, Adebayo has added the mid-range jumper to his arsenal, expanded his use and continued to grow into one of the NBA’s greatest players. He averaged 19.6 points per 36 minutes, plus 9.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 0.9 steals and 1.0 blocks on 63.6 percent true shooting. It’s not his fault at all that the Heat is 14-17, but the disappointing record has likely cost him a second appearance.
Fred VanVleet, Toronto Raptors
From an undesigned bench warmer to a critical part of the best bench unit in the league to NBA Finals hero to full-time starter to this, the evolution has continued. VanVleet will have to wait to validate his last jump with an All-Star appearance, but he’s clearly playing at an All-Star level. He was a ray of hope when the Raptors were struggling, and he has driven much of their success as they turned things around, most notably with his 54-point game against Orlando and in recent wins against the Sixers and Bucks without Kyle Lowry. In February, he averaged 21.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.6 steals per 36 minutes on 59.8 percent true shooting, but the late push wasn’t enough.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
Gilgeous-Alexander is no longer part of a three-headed PG monster and has emerged as the Thunder’s clear number 1 option. This was a predictable storyline, but the same cannot be said for the extent of its development. In general, when a young player’s usage rate makes a significant jump, maintaining his efficiency is considered a success. This 22-year-old has done a lot more than that. He scores an average of 24.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 6.9 assists with 62 percent (!) True shooting. Coaches likely held OKC’s 12-19 record against him.
De’Aaron Fox, Sacramento Kings
Fox has been one of the top pairing players in the league, and if this vote happened before the Kings’ seven-game losing streak, I bet he would have made it. Over the season he averaged 24.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 1.4 steals per 36 minutes, but these numbers underline how much he has improved as a pick and roll operator. Fox confidently takes pull-up 3s and stepback 3s, and his 41.9 percent score on catch-and-shoot 3s suggests he’ll be able to shoot those shots at a reliable speed in the relatively near future. He also shoots 72 percent of his shots on the rim, which shouldn’t be possible.
Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks
When we look strictly at the numbers, it’s hard to rationalize keeping Young out of the team. The man scores an average of 27.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 9.9 assists per 36 minutes on 60.8 percent true shooting, and opponents cannot keep him from the free-throw line. However, The Hawks have had an uneven season and Young hasn’t meaningfully improved his defense or his off-the-ball game.
Domantas Sabonis, Indiana Pacers
Sabonis and the Pacers got off to a strong start to the season, but his case lost some steam when the team did. Like Middleton and Adebayo, he is undoubtedly better now than when he made the All-Star Game last season. He averages 21.3 points, 11.5 rebounds and 5.7 assists per 36 minutes on 59.5 percent true shooting, with a career-high 25.4 usage figures. Everything Indiana does revolves around him.
Gordon Hayward, Charlotte Hornets
Hayward’s per-36 numbers (22.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.2 steals) are nearly identical to what they were in his last season in Utah. His real 60 percent firing rate is a few percentage points higher. Hayward was everything the Hornets hoped he would be, scoring and playing just the right amount of points to relieve the pressure on their guards without getting in their way. Unfortunately for him, those numbers don’t jump off the page in the same way as, say, LaVine.
Jimmy Butler, Miami Heat
Should coaches reward the best? players or the players who have the best seasonsIf you lean towards the former or think it must be a combination of both, you probably think Butler has been robbed. He proved that he was top of the league in the bubble, and his stats in 19 games – 20.9 points, 8.3 rebounds, 8.3 assists and 2.0 steals per 36 minutes at 55 percent true shooting – don’t differ that much from his latest stats. season. Butler started slow, and his 12 missed games probably worked against him. Miami’s record probably did.
DeMar DeRozan, San Antonio Spurs
DeRozan’s drive-and-kick play was a vital part of the Spurs’ new offense, and he averages a career-high 7.4 assists per 36 minutes. He’s still an incredible midrange shooter, but he’s cut the frequency of his long 2s and hit a career high of 57 percent, according to Cleaning The Glass. He no longer shuns the three-point line completely. However, San Antonio hasn’t been big enough for DeRozan to generate a lot of All-Star buzz, and his diminished points per game (19.8) likely play a part as well. Considering how he has been discussed during his career, this is a rich irony.
Tobias Harris, Philadelphia 76ers
For the second time, Harris has a career year under Doc Rivers, averaging 21.4 points, 8.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.9 blocks per 36 minutes at 60.7 percent true shooting . Harris’ shot profile is a personification of the vastly improved offensive ecosystem of the Sixers and doesn’t look all that different, but he’s much more comfortable as a scorer than last season. However, as Conley found out, when you’re teammates with two eternal All-Stars, it’s hard to get in.
Honorable Mentions: Jerami Grant, Brandon Ingram, Christian Wood, Ja Morant, CJ McCollum