The NBA’s All-Star Game lineup is set. The league announced the reserve players for the West and East, and while there were no obvious surprises, there were a few glaring snubs.
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With each team boasting only 12 slots, there was always room for a potentially deserving candidate to miss out on the All-Star rosters. However, the absence of some snubs is beyond astounding. Here are a few names that deserved a berth in the 2024 All-Star game.
Trae Young
Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young is inarguably the biggest snub in this year’s All-Star lineup. He’s averaging 27 points, 10.9 assists, and 2.9 rebounds per game. He’s one of only two players alongside Eastern Conference All-Star team starter Tyrese Haliburton to average 10+ assists this season. He’s also the only player in the NBA to average 25+ points and 10+ assists this season.
Young’s absence from the All-Star team is admittedly baffling.
De’Aaron Fox
Sacramento Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox‘s absence from the Western Conference All-Star roster was another questionable decision. He is currently averaging 27.2 points, 5.5 assists, and 4.1 rebounds this season. Of the 24 highest-scoring players in the league this season, only two, Fox and Utah Jazz‘s Lauri Markannen, missed out on an All-Star berth.
Markannen is the 23rd-highest scorer in the league, while Fox is ninth. The Jazz are ninth in the Western Conference standings, while the Kings are fifth. By every metric, Fox deserved a spot in the All-Star game.
Domantas Sabonis
Fox’s teammate Domantas Sabonis was also egregiously left out of the Western Conference All-Star squad. He’s averaging 19.9 points, 13 rebounds, and eight assists this season. He’s the league leader in rebounds and has only one triple-double fewer than Nikola Jokic, who leads the league in that category with 14.
The Nuggets superstar and Sabonis are the only two players in the NBA with more than ten triple-doubles. The NBA’s MVP ladder has Sabonis at seventh. He’s the only player among the top 14 candidates on the ladder that won’t play in the All-Star Game. Sabonis is a shocking snub.
Rudy Gobert
Rudy Gobert has been one of the main reasons for the Minnesota Timberwolves‘ incredible season so far. They are 34-14 at the moment, good for the best record in the Western Conference. Amidst the impressive run, Gobert has been averaging 13.1 points, 12.4 rebounds, 2.1 blocks, and 1.2 assists. He is second in the league in rebounds and has the best defensive rating in the NBA (104.4).
The Timberwolves have very impressively been the best defensive team in the Western Conference this season, with a stellar defensive rating of 109.2. A massive reason behind that has been the presence of Rudy Gobert in the paint, who might well be on his way to yet another Defensive Player of the Year award.
All things considered, the Frenchman’s absence from the Western Conference’s All-Star squad showcases that defense is heavily undervalued when evaluating a player’s ability.
James Harden
James Harden has been incredible since taking over the primary ball-handling duties. While his averages – 17.2 points, 8.5 assists, and 4.9 rebounds – may not look great, his upturn in form is one of the main reasons why the Los Angeles Clippers are two games behind the Timberwolves and sit third in the Western Conference standings. After a rough 0-5 start following his trade from the Philadelphia 76ers, Harden and the Clippers are 28-8. Over those 36 games, he’s averaged 17.4 points, 9.2 assists, and 4.9 rebounds.
In that span, Harden has a +/- of 362. No other player has a +/- of 300 during that period. He’s the only player with a +/- of over 300 with fewer than 42 games this season. The underlying stats suggest Harden has been playing at an All-Star level and deserved a spot on the Western Conference roster.
