Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade<\/a> in 2019), the 41-year-old future Hall of Famer has to be there. Leonard was tough only because I ran out of spots for both him and James Harden. My suggestion? An All-Star job share, divvying up the weekend obligations and playing time. They both would just be commuting in L.A.<\/p>\nBrian Martin<\/p>\n
Deni Avdija, Portland Trail Blazers
\nKevin Durant, Houston Rockets
\nAnthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
\nLeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
\nKawhi Leonard, LA Clippers
\nJamal Murray, Denver Nuggets
\nAlperen Sengun, Houston Rockets<\/p>\n
Toughest choice: After Edwards, Durant, Sengun, Avdija and Murray, this exercise became extremely difficult given the many qualified candidates. Should OKC get two All-Stars, with Chet Holmgren joining Gilgeous-Alexander? With Phoenix exceeding expectations, is Devin Booker deserving? How about Lauri Markkanen, James Harden and Julius Randle? In the end, I went sentimental with two players from L.A. Leonard leads the league in scoring over the past month (32.8 ppg), fueling the host team\u2019s resurgence. While we will eventually have an All-Star Weekend without James, it shouldn\u2019t be this year. The man who has defied Father Time more than any player ever gets a 22nd straight All-Star nod.<\/p>\n
Shaun Powell<\/p>\n
Deni Avdija, Portland Trail Blazers
\nKevin Durant, Houston Rockets
\nAnthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
\nJames Harden, LA Clippers
\nLeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
\nJamal Murray, Denver Nuggets
\nAlperen Sengun, Houston Rockets<\/p>\n
Toughest choice: I plead guilty to sentimentality here. Harden, James and Durant are all debatable cases, maybe borderline. What about Lauri Markkanen, Chet Holmgren and Devin Booker? All deserving, no question. But when it\u2019s close, I lean toward this: Who do most fans want to see in this showpiece game? It is, after all, an exhibition for the fans. For Harden, Durant and James to have one more chance is what these legends have earned \u2026 much like it once was for Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and others at the end of their careers.<\/p>\n
John Schuhmann<\/p>\n
Deni Avdija, Portland Trail Blazers
\nDevin Booker, Phoenix Suns
\nKevin Durant, Houston Rockets
\nAnthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
\nChet Holmgren, Oklahoma City Thunder
\nKawhi Leonard, LA Clippers
\nJamal Murray, Denver Nuggets<\/p>\n
Toughest choice: James Harden and Alperen Sengun were the toughest omissions. Holmgren got the final spot because, of all the players considered, he is the most efficient scorer of that group. He\u2019s also one of the best defenders in the league and a major contributor to the team with the best point differential in NBA history. The other picks were fairly straightforward.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Player, Team
\nNumber of times picked<\/p>\n
Deni Avdija, Portland Trail Blazers
\n4 times<\/p>\n
Kevin Durant, Houston Rockets
\n4 times<\/p>\n
Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
\n4 times<\/p>\n
Jamal Murray, Denver Nuggets
\n4 times<\/p>\n
LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
\n3 times<\/p>\n
Kawhi Leonard, LA Clippers
\n3 times<\/p>\n
Alperen Sengun, Houston Rockets
\n3 times<\/p>\n
Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns
\n1 time<\/p>\n
James Harden, LA Clippers
\n1 time<\/p>\n
Chet Holmgren, Oklahoma City Thunder
\n1 time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LeBron James has 21 career All-Star appearances, while Denver\u2019s Jamal Murray has none. From time to time, NBA.com\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,226314,85],"class_list":["post-432591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-nba-all-star-reserve-predictions","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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