Voting for the NBA’s All-Star starters has now closed, and the league will reveal on TNT on Thursday night the 10 players who have been named starters for this year’s game, with an announcement on the All-Star reserves to follow next Tuesday.
Before that happens, we want to get your take on which 24 players deserve to make this year’s All-Star Game, starting today in the Western Conference.
This year’s Western Conference All-Stars, who will be represented by Jazz head coach Quin Snyder, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN, have six clear frontrunners for the five starting spots.
Lakers star LeBron James, Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, and Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard are the odds-on favorites to claim the three frontcourt openings, while Warriors guard Stephen Curry, Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, and Mavericks guard Luka Doncic will vie for the two backcourt spots.
While it remains to be seen which five players will earn starting spots, it’s safe to say that all six will safely make the team. That leaves six other spots up for grabs.
The general consensus among Marc Stein of The New York Times, Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, and Josh Robbins of The Athletic – all of whom made their picks this week – is that four of those spots will be claimed by Anthony Davis, Paul George, and the Jazz duo of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, which would make sense, given those players’ importance to the top three clubs in the conference.
After that, there’s little consensus. Stein and Robbins have Jazz guard Mike Conley nabbing one of the last two spots, while Stein and O’Connor each penciled in Suns guard Chris Paul. O’Connor also has Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander making his team, while Robbins opted for Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan.
Suns guard Devin Booker, Pelicans forwards Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, Kings guard De’Aaron Fox, Rockets big man Christian Wood, and Grizzlies guard Ja Morant all merited consideration and/or honorable mention from Stein, O’Connor, and Robbins. Beyond that, it’s hard to find legitimate candidates whose cases haven’t been hurt by injuries or COVID-19, as is the case for Blazers guard CJ McCollum, among others.
Following the format of four guards, six frontcourt players, and two wild cards, my picks would be Curry, Doncic, LeBron, Jokic, and Kawhi in the starting lineup, with Lillard, Mitchell, Davis, George, Gobert, Paul, and DeRozan on the bench. If Davis remains sidelined through the All-Star break due to his calf injury, picking a frontcourt player to replace him would be tricky, but for now I’d lean toward Williamson.
What do you think? Which 12 Western Conference players would be on your All-Star squad for the 2020/21 season?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in!
De’Aaron Fox !!!!!!
Demar deserves it he’s been disrespected for a while
Demar is averaging 19. 5. 6.
De’Aaron is averaging 24. 4. 7
Trust me I’m a die hard Kentucky fan. I wasn’t disrespecting fox whatsoever.
I’d say those last 2 spots go to one of the Suns (Booker/Paul) and then probably DeRozan
All starters should boycott or come up with a health issue this week. Being voted in is a curse this year, unless you are going to a strip club.
PG13 and AD are likely to stay home due to injury, so that opens two bench slots for the up-and-comers like SGA, Zion or Booker.
All top 5 players are in West?
I put group 1 over Group 2
Group 1
Kawhi
Davis
Curry
Jokic
LeBron
Group 2
Giannis
Embiid
Luka
Beal
Harden
Group 2 has no superior quality wins
I would put Lillard over doncic. Lillard has done more with less and team is doing better.
‘I would put Lillard over doncic’
…says the completely impartial Trailblazers fan.
All top 5 Western All-Stars are in the West, go figure.
It is going to be between Booker, Paul and DeRozan, as they are the only three deserving candidates who play in winning teams. And I go with Booker and Paul mainly because they should be more popular (both between fans and journalists). DeRozan is playing quite well, but Chris Paul is Chris Paul.
Conley had the best +/- before his injury. KAT looked amazing before he went down. AD might not play but deserves it. Hard to say if PG13 will play. We’ll see if he plays tonight vs the Jazz.
Booker and Paul weren’t playing as well to start the year. That does factor in. Demar isn’t putting up high enough numbers. Wall has been great for Houston but they’re losing lately.
I do agree with this list:
Doncic
Wood
George
Gobert
Mitchell
*Booker or Wall
*Conley then replaced with Fox.
My picks
West
Jokic
James
Leonard
Curry
Lillard
Doncic
Wood
George
Gobert
Mitchell
Booker
DeRozan * for Davis
East
Embiid
Antetokounmpo
Durant
Beal
Brown
Tatum
Middleton
Adebayo
Harden
Randle
Simmons
Vucevic
Looks like a vote for whitespace.
For the WC starters…
Curry Luka Kawhi LBJ Jokic
subs…
Dame CJ PG13 Zion AD C-Wood KAT
in case of injuries or no participation…
SGA DeRozen BI Ayton Gobert
For the EC starters…
Kyrie Harden KD Giannis Embiid
subs…
BB ZLV Butler JR Sabonis Bam Vucevic
in case of injuries or not participation…
Trae JB JT Simmons Capela
You seem to only care about players with nicknames that can be abbreviated. =)
Some of the guys on your list are losing a ton this year. Do you even watch these guys?
You must really hate the Jazz and CP3. You’re putting CWood, Towns, SGA, Demar, BI, Ayton, and CJ above him. Lol
Look at their stats again and their winning percentage. Then look at their clutch numbers. You’ll see Mitchell and Paul are usually always at the top of the list. Although, it’s hard to get an accurate number for the Jazz roster as they’ve been blowing teams out every game. Some teams close within a dozen by the end. =)
But seriously, the best teams should have the best representation.
I am a big CP3 fan… but simply all the guys I mentioned are playing better as a matter of fact!
BTW I don’t see what winning games has got to do with the ASG or anythin’ else for that matter!
ASG for me is all about rewarding the guys who play the best, sadly the All-NBA teams are already all about winning, not performance, are we gonna do the same with the ASG as well?
Of course it’s about winning. Putting up big stats on a losing team doesn’t mean anything. Your team is still losing. That’s why you can’t judge stats. Guys sacrifice stats to win games on the best teams. You can look back throughout history. Igoudala is a great example.
Im not so sure AD deserves the nod even sans the inj unless we are just handing out token awards
Give it to somebody whoes worked their tale off all year, Ingram Fox Shai Mitchell etc. AD hasnt gotten outta 3rd gear since game 6 Mia last year
Your list doesn’t account for their winning percentage. CJ and Dame won’t get in because of this, only Dame. Spida and Gobert should get in for sure because of this. Can’t ignore the best team in the league’s roster.
KAT same thing. Zion while talented might not because of record. CWood could get in, but not ahead Gobert.
It’s tough for guys like Conley who deserve to be considered yet had an injury.
Towns is another guy who’s not only injured but stuck on the worst team almost every year. At what point does it become his fault? Can’t be a coincidence that they are bad every year.
We should vote in all the guys who are on the DL, that way they don’t have to play and we don’t risk shutting the rest of the season down due to COVID.
What’s the roster status of players who will be considered for a spot in the 2020/2021
ALL STINK GAME ??
Too many good PG’s in the west to choose from! John Wall should definitely get consideration even with the rest days.
Mike CONLEY for allstar! First time in a fine but overlooked career in Memphis that includes 3 NBA Sportsmanship awards but only a defensive allstar nod.
An amazing plus-16 points on/off for the NBA best team, Utah.
Many players have missed games… Conley started the first 23.