On Tuesday night, NBA all-star reserves were announced. Almost as quickly as the internet was to congratulate the first-time all-stars, who this year were Zion Williamson, Jaylen Brown, Julius Randle, and Zach LaVine, they were calling out snubs, AKA players who they thought were deserving of the recognition.
The reserves for the East were: Julius Randle, Jaylen Brown, James Harden, Nikola Vucevic, Zach LaVine, Ben Simmons, and Jayson Tatum. To fill out the West’s set of players were: Anthony Davis, Paul George, Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Chris Paul, Zion Williamson, and Damian Lillard.
This season the all-star snubs are more glaring than ever, as 34 players are averaging more than 20 points per game this season during this scoring boom that we are witnessing. Currently, All-Star selections are 12 players per conference.
The most blatant snub throughout the NBA was easily Devin Booker of the Suns. The star from Kentucky is averaging fewer points and assists this year than last, but the Suns are much improved, mainly due to Booker’s improved efficiency numbers. It ended up all right for Booker as Anthony Davis is injured and will be through the All-Star game, so Booker was selected as his replacement and will earn his second selection to the game. The other selection was also as a replacement, so one would have to imagine that he is getting pretty frustrated at his lack of recognition among players and fans.
The case for snubs in the West is challenging because they have such a strong roster of players who play on winning teams, except for Zion Williamson. The East had a little more discrepancy as Nikola Vucevic, Julius Randle, Jaylen Brown, and Jayson Tatum all play on losing teams.
In the East, there are a few noticeable snubs, and I will start with Trae Young. The point guard for the Atlanta Hawks was a starter for the East last year but found himself left out of the game (played in Atlanta!) altogether. Young finished 6th in fan voting among East guards and 11th amongst player voting.
What hurt Young’s chance this year was his repertoire among coaches around the league and led Nets coach Steve Nash to say, “That’s not basketball,” when talking about Young’s play style. He can also frequently be seen pointing or looking to opponents’ benches after scoring, which doesn’t help him when it comes to coaches putting in a good word.
Nonetheless, Trae Young is the only star on a team that is not living up to expectations but is much better than last year. His 27 points per game put him at 10th in the league, and the nine players ahead of him found themselves on the roster, and then the eight players underneath him also were given the nod over him. He is also 3rd in the league in assists per game; it seems strange to leave Trae out and give other less impactful players the nod over him.
Another snub in the East was Domantas Sabonis. The big man, who is the son of all-time basketball great Arvydas Sabonis, has led the Pacers to a 4th place standing in the East and a winning record. Not only did Sabonis get snubbed with his 21.5 points per game, 11.6 rebounds per game, and 5.7 assists per game, Malcolm Brogdon also didn’t get a nod for the Pacers, who have a winning record, which is not easy to come by in the east.
The Celtics currently sit at 6th in the East with a losing record, yet were given two all-stars. That shows how much of an influence market size has on fan voting, and as fun, as it is to give fans a say, and it may be time to reform the system. A simple fix would be to increase the rosters’ size from 12 to 15, which is the number of players on any given team. It would just make more sense, and although there would still be snubs, and always will be, it will be tougher to argue for the 16th best player in a conference, as opposed to the 13th best.
