Like every year, the player elections for the All-Star Game become an excuse to tell stories. Both around the players who will be present in Inglewood on February 15, and those who will not be there. But this time, the introduction of the United States vs. Rest of the World format gives it an extra layer of narrative veneer.
The Debutantes and the Norman Powell Prophecy
Up to six players will attend their first All-Star event at this event in Los Angeles. Most of them according to a logical progression during what is still their first stage in the league. This is the case of Chet Holmgren, Jalen Johnson and Jalen Duren. Deni Avdija could also be included in this group, but he is the only one of them who is turning 25 and whose development has been less conventional into what an NBA star usually is.
A very good secondary player in Washington during the first four years of his career, he started playing as the first option in Portland midway through last season and has never looked back. Thus until turning his 4-year, 55 million dollar contract into one of the great bargains of the entire competition.
Jamal Murray deserves a separate paragraph for having always been a player who has always been assumed to have All-Star talent, but who has never found it with the regularity of this year in the, pardon the redundancy, regular season. This season we are seeing playoff Murray, or a sustainable version of this, from day one. But it is worth highlighting his choice to break the curse of Nikola Jokic, who until now was the only MVP in NBA history not to have had a teammate who was an All-Star while sharing a locker room with the Serbian.
Norman Powell eats at another table. The shooting guard already earned merit for being an All-Star last year, where for months he was the top scorer for the Clippers without Kawhi Leonard who survived based on his offensive performance, that of James Harden and an elite defense. Powell felt very hurt by being traded to Miami after having the best season of his career and during the summer he said the following:
«I want to be an All-Star. I think I am. I tell myself every day that I am. I just want to prove it. I know I’ve worked for it.”
Said and done, the Heat guard has become the fourth oldest All-Star debutant since 1960 at 32 years and 253 days. Second only to Sam Cassell (34), Anyhony Mason (34) and Kyle Korver (33).
LeBron James’ 22nd All-Star and the big absences
In his twenty-third year in the league, LeBron James has several current records at risk. The first to fall was his historic streak of consecutive games scoring 10 or more points. Which remained at 1,297 meetings on December 6. The other two are his consecutive appearances in the All-Star and All-NBA quintets, numbering 21 before starting the course. For now, and in the midst of some commotion with the attitude that James has maintained in recent weeks regarding his possible retirement at the end of the course, he is going to maintain that of the all-star weekend, adding his 22nd consecutive election.
You cannot imagine an All-Star Game without LeBron and his 21.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 6.6 assists with 59% shooting. true shooting they might deserve to place him there in the void. The problem is the players who are left out due to their presence.
In the West there are three more or less clear names: Lauri Markkanen, Alperen Sengün and Kawhi Leonard; although Julius Randle, Austin Reaves, James Harden or De’Aaron Fox could well enter the conversation. LeBron can keep the conversation with the Finn and the Turk, having numbers comparable to the second and a much better record than the first (18-13 to 14-22) when they play for their teams.
What is more difficult to maintain is the face to face with Kawhi Leonard. The forward is leaving the best numbers of his career in scoring with 27.6 per night and an absurd 62% of true shooting (40% from triple). Leonard is showing defensive flashes that he hasn’t shown in a long time with this consistency and leads the league with 2 steals per night (among players who have played at least 25 games).
And although the record since his return is 16-13, the Clippers are the best team in the last month with a 10-3 record (15-3 since December 20) and in that stretch Kawhi has left 30 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2 steals on average. Which raises him to having the third EPM (Estimated Plus Minus per 100 possessions) in the league according to Dunk and Threes.
In the East, players like Bam Adebayo, Michael Porter Jr., Josh Giddey, Evan Mobley, Brandon Ingram, Derrick White, Desmond Bane and, above all, Joel Embiid, whose physical recovery has come late, have been left out.
What about the Clippers?
Ignoring the seasons of Kawhi Leonard and to a lesser extent James Harden in the face of this All-Star is a strange decision. Especially considering that the event is held in the stadium of said franchise. An Intuit Dome that made the Clippers independent of their rich brother last year (at least in history) and that will not be able to enjoy any representation in the all-star game.
Conspiracy theories have two focuses to focus on:
- The NBA doesn’t care about the Clippers and continues to see them as a minor franchise.
- Adam Silver and company want to get healthy so that it can come to light after the All-Star break.
It is easy to forget because the league’s communication has not made reference to the issue for months and Pablo Torres stopped releasing exclusives about it. But Steve Ballmer, Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers are the subject of an investigation for alleged fraud on cap space rules. The results of the process that the NBA has followed are supposed to be revealed after the All-Star. And perhaps it was ugly that Leonard was recognized with his seventh presence at said event days before being firmly accused and, probably, suspended.
Cabalas with the new format
On paper, the voting that coaches exercise to choose the reserves does not have to be limited to any rule that has to do with the new All-Star format. The choices should be made without thinking about the nationality of each player. The final result leaves open doubts.
Since 2024, the NBA has gotten rid of the All-Star and All-NBA voting positions. However, custom prevails and unconsciously the voter does not tend to configure unbalanced quintets with five bases or five inside players or the 7 substitutes with a similar profile and position. And perhaps more or less unconsciously, having to choose 16 Americans and 8 international players has affected the voting.
In principle, if there was a deficit in any of the teams, Adam Silver would choose as many extra players as needed to reach the minimum. Which will not be necessary because it has been a perfect 16/8 with the only asterisk of considering Karl-Anthony Towns, who plays with the Dominican team, American. No problem, because it was born in New Jersey.
Seen this way, it is difficult to ignore the idea that the coaches have done the math to ensure Pascal Siakam’s place as the eighth international player or that they could not add Sengün or Markkanen to break the balance. Another one for the list of things we will never know.
You can listen here to the predictions made by Jorge Roche and myself.
(Cover photo by Brad Mills-Imagn Images)
