NBA coaches are obviously convinced: Victor Wembanyama is one of the league’s very best players.
The San Antonio star and reigning rookie of the year is an All-Star for the first time, one of the 14 players announced Thursday night as members of the reserve pool for the Feb. 16 event in San Francisco.
Wembanyama becomes only the fourth Spurs player to make the All-Star Game in his first or second season. The others: Alvin Robertson in 1986, David Robinson in 1990 and 1991, and Tim Duncan in 1998.
“It’s just a testament to his first year and a half in this league and the work he put in prior to that and trusting the process of trying to get incrementally better, not skipping steps,” acting Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said of Wembanyama last week in Paris, when asked about his center’s All-Star chances. “And then, obviously, that allows the talent and unique skill set to shine through.”
Coaches select the reserves, after the 10 names for the starters pool were announced last week through a combination of fan voting (50%), media voting (25%) and active player voting (25%).
There were seven players picked Thursday from each conference. From the Eastern Conference: Boston’s Jaylen Brown, Indiana’s Pascal Siakam, Cleveland’s Darius Garland and Evan Mobley, Detroit’s Cade Cunningham, Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard — last year’s All-Star MVP — and Miami’s Tyler Herro.
From the West: Wembanyama, Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards, the Los Angeles Lakers‘ Anthony Davis, the Los Angeles Clippers‘ James Harden, Memphis’ Jaren Jackson Jr., Houston’s Alperen Sengun and Oklahoma City’s Jalen Williams.
Wembanyama, Cunningham, Mobley, Herro, Sengun and Williams are first-time All-Stars.
“It’s a great opportunity to be a part of,” Herro said.
The 10 players picked last week for the starter pool: Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Phoenix’s Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James (his record-extending 21st All-Star nod), Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, New York teammates Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell and Boston’s Jayson Tatum.
Cleveland (3), the Lakers (2), Oklahoma City (2), Boston (2), Milwaukee (2) and New York (2) are the teams that have multiple selections. Golden State, Phoenix, Denver, Minnesota, the Clippers, Memphis, Houston, San Antonio, Detroit, Indiana and Miami all got one selection.
Atlanta, Brooklyn, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, New Orleans, Orlando, Philadelphia, Portland, Sacramento, Toronto, Utah and Washington did not have an All-Star selection.
There will be at least 15 players who “start” at the All-Star Game this season. It’s the first year of a new All-Star format, with three games. The 24 All-Stars will be drafted into three teams of eight players apiece by TNT personalities and former NBA greats Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith.
That draft will be held Feb. 6.
Those three teams will be entered into a four-team tournament, with the remaining squad made up of NBA rookies and second-year players from the Rising Stars event on All-Star Friday, which is Feb. 14. There are two semifinal games, with the winners meeting in a championship game. The games should go quickly; the first team to reach 40 points wins.
The league changed the format this year with hopes that shorter games will be more competitive. Last year’s All-Star Game was the highest-scoring in league history, a 211-186 game that was basically all 3-pointers and dunks.
“We went back to the drawing board,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. “We had direct conversations with many of the players, many of the perennial All-Stars, to talk about what it is that we could put together from a competitive standpoint. I’m optimistic this year that we landed on a formula that will work.”
Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault and an assistant from his staff will coach two of the teams, and Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson and one of his assistants will lead the others.
Among the notable names who did not make it: Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball — who narrowly missed out on being picked as a starter, but didn’t have enough coach support to be a reserve — along with Atlanta’s Trae Young, Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis, Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey, Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton, Phoenix’s Devin Booker, Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox, Dallas’ Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic (who has played in only 22 games), and the Clippers’ Norman Powell.
Ball is fourth in the NBA at 28.2 points per game, plus averages 7.3 assists and 5.3 rebounds. Doncic — if he qualified for the league leaders by playing enough games, which he hasn’t because of injuries — would be fifth in scoring at 28.1 points per game, along with 8.3 rebounds and 7.8 assists per game.
If they keep those averages and play enough games to qualify for the league’s end-of-season leaderboard, they would be the only two players in NBA history to have such numbers in a season and not make the All-Star Game.
It is possible that either or both could be named as injury replacements in the coming weeks by Silver, who makes those decisions when necessary.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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Victor Wembanyama
San Antonio Spurs
National Basketball Association
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