“Damian Lillard should’ve been an All-Star starter over Luka Doncic”: Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal says Blazers superstar was more deserving of a starting spot than the Mavericks star

Shaq takes to NBA on TNT to let it be known that he believes Damian Lillard deserved to be an All-Star starter over Luka Doncic. 

The NBA announced their list of All-Star starters some hours back. There are many NBA fans out there that believe that a few players got snubbed from starting in the All-Star Game. James Harden and Damian Lillard’s names have been thrown around. 

Fans are especially passionate in their belief that Damian Lillard should’ve been selected as an All-Star starter, over Luka Doncic. It cannot really be argued that Dame could have taken Steph Curry’s place. Curry is putting up numbers that are reminiscent of his unanimous MVP season. 

Though the media and the players voted for Dame to be a starter over Luka, the starting spot inevitably went to Doncic. This is because fan vote counts for 50% of the vote and the fans voted for Doncic to be a starter over Damian. 

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Shaq disagrees with Damian Lillard being ‘snubbed’ from being an All-Star starter. 

Shaq explains why he would take Damian Lillard over Luka Doncic

Dame has been dragging an injury-ridden Portland TrailBlazers team for more than half of the season to the 5th best record in the entire league. Following his 43 points and 16 assists against the Pelicans, the Blazers currently boast an 18-10 record. 

Shaq sees Dame’s incredible numbers all while leading Portland to a top 4 seed in the West as grounds for an obvious selection to be an All-Star starter. 

“I still think Damian Lillard should be a starter. He’s actually playing better; you know Luka has more assists but nobody is feared in the game more than Damian Lillard. Time in and time out, he’s been pushed off this All-Star starter list. I would’ve liked to see him as a starter.” 

The TNT crew’s full discussion about Luka vs. Dame as the second starting guard in the West:

Kenny Smith: “Popularity contest, Luka’s going to win, but like Shaq said, the most feared man in basketball right now is Damian Lillard.”

➡️ https://t.co/jqk0t32tzf pic.twitter.com/0UMkGBwNqh

— Callie Caplan (@CallieCaplan) February 19, 2021

Also Read: “Damian Lillard should be in the MVP conversation”: Shannon Sharpe says that the Blazers superstar needs to be talked about alongside the likes of LeBron James and Joel Embiid

Damian Lillard has gone above and beyond in proving that he’s one of the greatest clutch-time players of this generation. Clutch-time is defined by the NBA as 5 minutes remaining in the game when the game is within 5 points. 

In that timespan this season, Dame has scored 82 points, while shooting 59% from beyond the arc. Both of these stats rank 1st in the league. The Blazers have a +4.9 net rating with Lillard on the court and a –9.7 off it. He’s been the Blazers’ most impactful player by a mile and is the fuel that powers the Blazers’ offensive engine.