The NBA All Star Starters Are Out And We Have Our First Snub Controversy

Alright so after all that anticipation we finally have our list of starters for both conferences and I have to say there isn't too much you could argue is wrong. Well unless of course you're a Miami Heat fan because you could absolutely make the case that Jimmy Butler got snubbed big time. It was going to be hard to keep Trae Young out of the All Star game, the dude is like 3rd in the league in scoring and he is electric as hell, but a starter? Considering the Heat are 31-13 and Jimmy Butler is a big reason why, that's a fair argument. What this tells us is team success really doesn't matter all that much which for the All Star game I think I'm OK with. So the Hawks stink, you can't tell me Trae Young's season isn't All Star worthy, I just think Butler had a legit case to start is all. The problem comes down to the fact that Jimmy Butler isn't classified as a guard which sounds weird but if you look at it 67% of his minutes have been spent as a SF and 33% as a PF. In fact, Butler hasn't primarily been a SG since his first 59 games with the Wolves. You could also make the case if records aren't going to matter that maybe Bradley Beal should have been a starter, but everyone sleeps on him anyway so it wasn't exactly a surprise that he didn't get in, but at least he's classified as a guard so really Young made it over Beal in my opinion. 

For the West, this is pretty much what you expected. No real surprises, and I don't think anyone really got boned. Who are you taking out of that list? I don't care if Kawhi has played like 10 games this season, he's making that starting five. 

It is pretty crazy that in just two years both Young and Luka, two guys that will be compared to one another for the rest of their careers, are All Star starters. Has there ever been a trade that has worked out so evenly for both sides? Wild. Now we wait to see how the rest of the selections play out, that's where the real drama is. I do find it interesting that both the players and media voted more for Luka than Harden though. Everyone fucking loves Luka.