The NBA All-Star game this year will have plenty of solid candidates left out. But first, lets start with the players who actually made the team.
Western Conference Starters
Guard: Stephen Curry
Guard: Kobe Bryant (injured and will be replaced)
Forward: Anthony Davis
Forward: Blake Griffin
Forward: Marc Gasol
Eastern Conference Starters
Guard: John Wall
Guard: Kyle Lowry
Forward: Pau Gasol
Forward: Lebron James
Forward: Carmelo Anthony
Western Conference All-Star Reserves
Guard: James Harden
Guard: Russell Westbrook
Forward: Kevin Durant
Forward: LaMarcus Aldridge
Forward: Tim Duncan
Wild Card: Klay Thompson
Wild Card: Chris Paul
Eastern Conference All-Star Reserves
Guard: Jimmy Butler
Guard: Jeff Teague
Forward: Paul Millsap
Forward: Al Horford
Forward: Chris Bosh
Wild Card: Kyrie Irving
Wild Card: Dwayne Wade (injured and might be replaced)
Unrecognized All-Stars
Damian Lillard: Lillard clearly deserved the spot on the All-Star team by the way he has been playing. He has averaged 21.8 points, 6.2 assists, and 4.6 rebounds and helping the Portland Trail Blazers get the 3rd best record in the West. He recently had an outstanding performance against the San Antonio Spurs and has been a huge part of the reason the Blazers are where they are now.
Mike Conley: Conley not making a roster spot doesn’t surprise me as much as Lillard. Conley doesn’t have any highlight reels or doesn’t do anything too fancy on the court. He’s just a solid player. He averaged 17.4 points, 5.6 assists and has helped the Grizzlies achieve the 2nd best record in the west.
DeMarcus Cousins: 23.8 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 3.2 assists. Those are his stats. How he does not have a spot on the All-Star team is beyond me. The Sacramento Kings are a subpar team, which could explain his absence from a roster spot. But then again, Duncan made the team and he had 14.7 points and 10.7 rebounds. This only adds to the question of whether or not the All-Star Game is selected by popularity.
Kyle Korver: The Atlanta Hawks are a surprising team this year and he is a big reason why they have done so well. Korver has averaged 13 points and 3.1 3-pointers per game. He is a huge 3-point threat and has helped build the comfortable lead the Hawks over the rest of the East.
Brandon Knight: Brandon Knight deserves a spot on the All-Star roster solely for his role in turning around the Milwaukee Bucks this year. The Bucks host a 23-22 record and don’t have their rookie prospect Jabari Parker. Knight is averaging 17.9 points and 5.1 assists per game. His small market team doesn’t help his case for being an All Star unfortunately.
Everyone who made the team is capable of being an All-Star, which makes it hard to make a case for any of the guys listed above. I wouldn’t cut anyone from the current team and replace them with the players who I feel got left out, but if there was more room on the team, the players above would be my first choice.
