The NBA has officially named Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, Kings guard De’Aaron Fox, and Raptors forward Pascal Siakam as injury replacements for next weekend’s All-Star Game in Salt Lake City (Twitter link).
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter links), who first reported that the trio was expected to make the All-Star Game, notes that Edwards and Fox will replace Warriors guard Stephen Curry and Pelicans forward Zion Williamson in the West, while Siakam will replace star forward Kevin Durant in the East.
Durant, of course, was traded from the Nets to the Suns this week, but was initially named an Eastern Conference All-Star, so his replacement comes from the East.
In his third season with the Timberwolves, Edwards is averaging a career-high 24.7 points per game on .464/.367/.767 shooting to go along with 6.0 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 1.7 steals per night in 58 games (36.2 MPG). Fox, a sixth-year guard, is putting up similar numbers for Sacramento, with 24.2 PPG, 6.3 APG, and 4.3 RPG on .504/.326/.789 in 49 games (33.7 MPG).
Both Edwards and Fox are first-time All-Stars.
Siakam, meanwhile, will be playing in his second All-Star Game after making the team in 2020. This season, he’s averaging new career highs in points (25.0) and assists (6.2) per game. He has also put up 8.0 rebounds per game with a .475/.326/.767 shooting line in 46 games and is leading the league in minutes per contest (37.5) for the second straight year.
In a full press release announcing the All-Star changes, the NBA announced that Sixers center Joel Embiid, Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen, and Grizzlies guard Ja Morant have all been promoted from All-Star reserves to starters, since Durant, Williamson, and Curry were all on track to start.
Congrdulations!
Have a blessed season ahead!
SW Atl legend… 2023 Anthony Edwards = 1995 Andre Benjamin link to m.youtube.com
congrats swipa!
It would be kind of funny if the all star game was like MLB and every team had to be represented and you just shipped out KD and Kyrie and somehow Ben was the AS they sent lol.
I mean, they’d probably pick Claxton, but yeah, that’s a fun idea xD
Joel Embiid should have been a starter all along! I suppose the universe has a way of fixing things – that and Nets dysfunction.
Stoked for Edwards. If a guard gets pulled in the eas5 I wonder if Brunson is next n line.
Garland
Siakam should decline the invite as “too little too late” almost insulting inviting him as an injury replacement
Well deserved, Fox. How is Domas not a starter over Markkanen?
Because Markkanen is the only AS-caliber guy on his team. Domas has Fox to toss him good passes and get assists, and the shooters mean he can grab rebounds like crazy. Markkanen is kind of having to carry the Jazz right now. I do think Domas is a better player, but Markkanen deserves his spot.
Domas has his team in third place. Lauri is “carrying” his team to 11th place.
The game is in SLC
Fair @clevelandspiders