Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets and LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers will be the captains of the Eastern and Western conferences, respectively, at the 2022 NBA All-Star game in Cleveland next month. KD and Bron were the top vote-getters in each conference, securing captain honors.
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The other starters in the East are Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks), Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers), Trae Young (Atlanta Hawks) and DeMar DeRozan (Chicago Bulls).
The other West starters include Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets), Andrew Wiggins (Golden State Warriors), Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors) and Ja Morant (Memphis Grizzlies).
Your Eastern Conference #NBAAllStar starters 🌟
Kevin Durant
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Joel Embiid
DeMar DeRozan
Trae Young pic.twitter.com/QyDjRFE6pr— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 28, 2022
Your Western Conference #NBAAllStar starters 🌟
LeBron James
Nikola Jokic
Stephen Curry
Ja Morant
Andrew Wiggins pic.twitter.com/taseEFyRrw— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 28, 2022
This is Bron’s 18th All-Star selection and KD’s 12th. It is also the first time being selected for Morant and Wiggins. That they are starters says a lot.
We don’t really have any serious beef. But if we’re picking nits, let’s talk about Andrew Wiggins.
First, the reasons he should be an All-Star. He is having a career-best season in terms of efficiency. His eFG% and TS% are 56 and 58, respectively, and he’s playing on one of the best teams in the NBA. His EPM is a career best +2.3.
But is he a starter?
If anyone deserves to be the second starter from the Warriors, it’s Draymond Green. He is +3.6 in EPM and No. 1 in the NBA in defensive EPM.
Ok, ok. The All-Star game isn’t about defense it’s about buckets. Fair. But is Wiggins the second- or third-best frontcourt player in the Western Conference?
Karl-Anthony Towns (+4.4) and Rudy Gobert (+5.3) are having much better seasons with larger roles in winning situations.
But if we’re being fair, the absence of Anthony Davis, Paul George, and Kawhi Leonard have made the path for Wiggins easier. Ultimately, none of this matters.
He is having a good year and he’s not a deserving starter. Both things can be true.
The reality is, this game is for the fans. Warriors fans came out in heavy support of their guy, and good for them. What we need to do is decide whether or not All-Star appearances matter in the grand scheme of things.
For this writer, All-NBA selections are what matter. But when a player’s Hall of Fame candidacy approaches we look at All-Star appearances as a metric. Should an exhibition game that heavily weighs fan vote be a determining factor?
And if the All-Star Game doesn’t matter, why do we have a snubs list and discussion every year?
There is one easy solution to solve this problem and the All-NBA teams selection problem. The All-Star ballot forces you to pick three frontcourt players and two backcourt players. The All-NBA selection forces you to choose a center, two forwards, and two guards.
Basketball is positionless. Why can’t we just select the five best players to start in the All-Star Game, and the five best players for each All-NBA team, regardless of position?
With the skill level that exists today you will easily have a starting five that consists of ball-handling, playmaking, shooting, rebounding and rim protection.
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