5 biggest snubs from 2023 NBA All-Star Game reserves announcement
5 biggest snubs from 2023 NBA All-Star Game reserves announcement originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Some players can’t help but feel snubbed.
The reserves for the 2023 NBA All-Star Game have been announced, and 14 players will join the 10 starters in Salt Lake City, Utah come Feb. 19.
But out of those 14, not every player stamped a clear-cut case to warrant a ticket to Utah.
Let’s take a look at the five biggest snubs from the 2023 announcement, along with whose spot should’ve been theirs:
The Kings saw Domantas Sabonis earn his spot as a reserve after being a questionable snub from the starters’ list, but fellow teammate De’Aaron Fox did not join him.
Fox, who is arguably the biggest snub this season, is averaging 24.3 points, 6.1 assists and 4.3 rebounds on a 51/33/79 shooting split for the Western Conference’s surprising No. 3 seed, along with being the league’s best scorer in clutch time.
The conference is loaded with star guards, and Ja Morant, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Damian Lillard all deserved a spot, but Fox simply should’ve made the cut. He’s been posting All-Star-caliber numbers for multiple seasons now, but when the Kings are finally legit, he’s still shut out.
Who should’ve Fox replaced? Jaren Jackson Jr. in the wild card spot.
The 76ers are essentially the Eastern Conference version of the Kings in this sense. Joel Embiid made the reserves team after being left off the starting list – which in all fairness was a tough call given the competition – but the team’s marquee guard was left off completely.
James Harden’s streak of 10 consecutive selections came to a halt despite being a key piece to the team’s rise to the No. 3 seed after an underwhelming start. He’s averaging 21.4 points, 11.0 assists and 6.4 rebounds on a 45/39/86 shooting split.
He might’ve been the last pick of the All-Star draft in 2022 – mainly because of LeBron James’ purposeful tactics against fellow captain Kevin…
