NBA All-Star Reserves Announced – Russell Westbrook named
Russell Westbrook was among the 14 NBA All-Star reserves announced Thursday via a special pregame show of Inside the NBA on TNT Thursday night.
Widely considered the worst snub of the players who will start in the 66th All-Star game, Russell Westbrook makes his sixth appearance at the Association’s big event.
Western NBA All-Star Reserves:
Russell Westbrook is joined by DeMarcus Cousins, of the Sacramento Kings, Marc Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies and Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors, who’ll each make their third appearance. Draymond Green makes his second appearance and his addition makes him the fourth Warrior on the 12-man squad (Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant will start).
Two first time All-Stars are Gordon Hayward of the Utah Jazz and DeAndre Jordan of the Clippers who likely gets the nod in place of injured teammate Chris Paul.
These 7 players will join starters:
Warriors Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, James Harden of the Houston Rockets, host city Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans and Kawhi Leonard of the San Antonio Spurs.
Related: Is Westbrook All-Star staring snub worst in history?
Image from NBA TV program
Eastern NBA All-Star Reserves:
In the Eastern Conference all but one player will make their return trip to the Association’s feature event:
Four time attendees Paul George of the Indiana Pacers, Paul Millsap of the Atlanta Hawks, John Wall of the Washington Wizards and Kevin Love. The latter joins teammates LeBron James and Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers who comprise a quarter of the East’s team.
Kyle Lowry (who arguably was the worst East omission from the starting lineup) makes his third appearance. Lowry joins Toronto Raptors backcourt partner DeMar DeRozan. Cited as being worthy of the start Isaiah Thomas of the Boston Celtics makes his second consecutive appearance. Rounding out the reserves Kemba Walker of the Charlotte Hornets makes his inaugural appearance at the big event.
image from NBA TV program
Starters for the East are:
Cavaliers LeBron James and Kyrie Irving make repeat appearances. Bulls Jimmy Butler, Bucks, Giannis Antetokounmpo and DeMar DeRozan of the Toronto Raptors.
Reserve Snubs:
Injured players: Chris Paul likely was left off the list due to his injury. Ditto for Blake Griffen who has missed several games due to injury.
Former All-Stars who’ve made multiple appearances: Several players who’ve appeared in multiple All-Star games missed the cut. Notably, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Dirk Nowitzki are among the main players falling into this section.
Former snubs: Three players stand out as missing the cut for All-Star Reserves, who could have been on previous squads. Specifically Mike Conley and Damian Lillard who could have been on the team for several seasons running. Lillard’s teammate C.J. McCollum arguably has produced a better stat line, but was also left off the list.
Future All-Stars: Rounding out the list are players who no doubt will make multiple appearances in the future: Joel Embiid, Karl-Anthony Towns, Kristaps Porzingis, Rudy Gobert and Andrew Wiggins.
Western Bigs will battle Eastern Guards:
Just a few seasons ago the NBA changed the ballot removing centers and changing it to three front court players with two guards starting. The reserves also replicated this 2 guards, 3 frontcourt players and 2 wild card selections.
So, it is ironic 5 of the Western teams players are either centers or predominantly function in that role: Davis, Cousins, Green, Gasol and Jordan. Conversely the Eastern team is comprised of mostly guards with Irving, DeRozan, Lowry, Thomas, Wall and Walker forming half of the team.
Coaches from each team selected the reserves with the mandate of picking players from teams other than their own. Prior to the announcement the Thunderous Intentions staff each selected their own 14 reserves. Check out our picks with reasons for selection and see how we did (of note: some of us nailed at least one side of the bracket).
Related Content: T.I. Team make their All-Star Reserve Selections
As for Westbrook, while he is the only OKC Thunder representative in the show, he’ll be joined in New Orleans by teammate Domantas Sabonis who was named to the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Rookie-Sophomore team.
Once again Rookies and Sophomores formulate a World team who’ll face players from the U.S. This game occurs on Friday, February 17th.
Related: Sabonis named to BBVA Compass Rising Stars World Team
In addition there will be a D-League showcase event, celebrity game and practice sessions for the two All-Star squads.
More from Thunderous Intentions
- Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
- Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
- 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
- Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
- Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder
Still to be determined are the State Farm Saturday Night participants who’ll compete in the Skills challenge, Three Point Shoot Out and Slam Dunk events.