The NBA All Star Reserves Are Out And Boy Were There Snubs

Last week we learned of the NBA All Star Starters and there wasn’t all that much surprise. Today the final list of reserves was made public and it’s a much different story. People are ready to get mad on the internet about their favorite player getting snubbed. Now that we have the results, let’s have a look at the East.

You’ll notice that Victor Oladipo is in this group. That’s great for him and a hell of an accomplishment, but he’s obviously hurt. Woj announced that he’ll be replaced by either D’Angelo Russell who is having a damn good season over in Brooklyn, or Jimmy Butler. Personally, I think that spot should go to Russell, he’s been a real difference maker for the Nets while Caris LeVert has been out and that BKN team has been one of the best teams in the league over the last 50 or so days. Look it up. Now there were some questionable selections, guys like Kyle Lowry and Khris Middleton were often debated if they were All Star worthy. I guess they were rewarded for being on the top two teams in the East. I would say everyone agrees Beal, Simmons, Vucevic, and Blake deserve to get in so no complaints there.

In terms of snubs, well you certainly have whichever of DLo/Butler doesn’t make it, then there’s players like Jayson Tatum but he was always a fridge All Star candidate anyways so that doesn’t bother me personally. To be honest looking at the East final group there isn’t that much you should want to change. Maybe TOR fans would have preferred Siakam to Lowry, but that’s probably it.

Now for the West, it’s an entirely different story

A lot to digest here. First thing that stands out is LaMarcus Aldridge made it over Rudy Gobert. I would think maybe AD gets shut down so perhaps he misses this game, but if not then that’s a rough one for Utah fans. The West is so tough you knew there were going to be guys left out, but you’ll also see there’s no Luka, Tobias Harris, Donovan Mitchell, or Derrick Rose. In my opinion Tobias Harris really has a case here. He’s averaging 21 and 8 on 50/43/88 and plays for a winning team. That’s rough. I would say of all these players the most questionable would be LMA or Klay but they probably got in through reputation. There’s also someone like Devin Booker who is having a great statistical year in PHX, his team just stinks out loud. Maybe you don’t want to reward that but you could still make the case for him.

So now we know the full crop of players for the live draft that will take place on February 7th. Same day as the trade deadline for those not aware so that’s going to be a wild day. After taking a second to digest the lists I would say my personal snub rankings would go like this

1. Rudy Gobert

2. Tobias Harris

3. DLo/Jimmy Butler

4. Luka Doncic

5. Derrick Rose

With that said, who in your mind was the biggest snub?