NBA All-Star Game Starters, Reserves & Biggest Snubs

NBA All-Star Game Starters, Reserves & Biggest Snubs

The rosters for the 2016 NBA All-Star game held in Toronto are set with the reserves for the East & West being chosen. It’ll mark the All-Star debuts of Andre Drummond, Isaiah Thomas, Kawhi Leonard and Draymond Green. The Golden State Warriors, with three players going ot the game, lead all teams in representatives.

Eastern Conference Team

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There’s some controversy over Tyronn Lue, with three games under his belt as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, will be on the sidelines of the All-Star game. David Blatt, fired after going a conference best 30-11 isn’t going to be there, so why not Dwane Casey of the Toronto Raptors. Not Steve Kerr (can’t do it two times in a row) or Luke Walton got to be on the Western Conference sidelines.

Starters: The backcourt is made up of Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat (12th time) and Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors (2nd time). The frontcourt is made up of LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers (12th time), Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks (9th time) and Paul George of the Indiana Pacers, making it for a third time.

Bench: One of the four guards is Isaiah Thomas of the Boston Celtics making his debut, DeMar Derozan of the Toronto Raptors in his second appearance, Jimmy Butler of the Chicago Bulls for a second time and John Wall of the Washington Wizards for a third time. The frontcourt is made up of Andre Drummond of the Detroit Pistons in his debut selection, Paul Millsap of the Atlanta Hawks in his third selection and Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat for an 11th time.

Western Conference Team

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Gregg Popovich will be the head coach because Steve Kerr can’t do it two years in a row and Luke Walton, being an assistant, can’t be on the sidelines as the head coach of an All-Star team.

Starters: The backcourt is made up of Stephen Curry from the Golden State Warriors in his 3rd appearance and Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder with his fifth. The frontcourt is made up of Kobe Bryant from the Los Angeles Lakers with his 19th All-Star selection, Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder with his 7th and Kawhi Leonard of the San Antonio Spurs making his debut.

Bench: The guards are going to be Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors with his second selection, James Harden of the Houston Rockets with his fourth and Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers with his ninth. The frontcourt consists of Draymond Green from the Golden State Warriors selected for the first time, DeMarcus Cousins of the Sacramento Kings for a second time, Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans for a third time and LaMarcus Aldridge of the San Antonio Spurs for a fifth time.

Biggest Snubs

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This is going to be the first All-Star game since 1997 without either Tim Duncan or Dirk Nowitzki playing. Duncan isn’t good enough to be included anymore, but Nowitzki is averaging 17.6 points per game while shooting just under 40% from beyond the arc in his 18th NBA season, which is more deserving than both Kobe Bryant and just as LaMarcus Aldridge.

Damian Lillard is probably the best player not in the game who deserves to be, improving in about every aspect on a bad Portland Trail Blazers team, scoring 24.3 points per game next to C.J. McCollum who is also putting up borderline All-Star numbers this season.

Pau Gasol might have declined, but both he and Al Horford might make deserving All-Stars, which they were last season for the East. Gordon Hayward is holding a Utah Jazz team missing its second best player (Derrick Favors) with their head above water and probably deserves a nod.


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