The Pistons’ J.B. Bickerstaff has wrapped up one of three head coaching slots in next month’s All-Star Game, the NBA announced (via Twitter).
The Celtics’ loss on Saturday night in Chicago ensured that Detroit will hold the best record in the East by the February 1 cutoff. At 32-11, the Pistons have a five-game lead over second place Boston, which is 28-17.
The coaching honor continues a remarkable turnaround under Bickerstaff, who was hired in 2024 to take over a franchise that had finished last in the East in back-to-back years. He led Detroit to a 44-38 record last season, a 30-game improvement from the previous year, and a competitive first-round series against New York. The resurgence has continued as the Pistons currently have the second-best record in the NBA.
This will be Bickerstaff’s first time serving as a head coach in the All-Star Game, and he’s the first Detroit coach to enjoy that honor since Flip Saunders did it 20 years ago.
Oklahoma City holds a comfortable lead in the West, but Mark Daigneault was an All-Star head coach last season and league rules prohibit coaches from serving in that capacity in consecutive years. The honor will go to the coach with the second-best record on February 1, with San Antonio currently a half-game ahead of Denver and three games in front of Houston.
The All-Star Game, which takes place February 15 in Los Angeles, will feature a U.S. vs. the World format this year, with two teams of American players and one made up of players who were born elsewhere.
This format is still confusing to me, because clearly there are more usa born all stars than international born all stars.
Then I heard it would be 3 teams, 2 usa teams and 1 world team. But then, we would need 3 coaches not 2, which goes against this article.
How in the world is this going to work? Are they going to snub players to put random international players in there?
There will be three teams and three coaches. One of the coaches will be Bickerstaff and a second one will be the head coach of the non-Thunder team with the best record in the West as of Feb. 1. As far as I know, the league has yet to announce how the third coach will be selected.
In terms of the All-Star selections, my understanding (again, not sure this has been confirmed) is that there will be 24 All-Stars selected the usual way. Then, if there aren’t 16 U.S. or eight international players among those 24 initial selections, the league would make additions to reach that minimum.
Jamal Murray, Alperen Sengun, and Deni Avdija look like pretty strong candidates in addition to the five international players named as starters, so it’s possible it will end up working itself out pretty cleanly. But Pascal Siakam could make it too. It’s also unclear where guys like Karl-Anthony Towns and Norman Powell – who were born in the U.S. but represented other countries in international competition – would fit.
It makes sense, it seems promising
I just hope we dont get many snubs
“Oklahoma City holds a comfortable lead in the West, but Mark Daigneault was an All-Star head coach last season and league rules prohibit coaches from serving in that capacity in consecutive years.”
That’s kinda strange. Not that it really matters