There will be no East All-Star snubs
Because they are barely enough worthy candidates for the honor.
Because they are barely enough worthy candidates for the honor.
Good morning. It's Coast2Coast NBA Rivals Week Free Newsletter Edition Tuesday. Let's basketball.
All-Star starters were announced on Monday. There was relatively little drama around it, in part due to the removal of positionality on the ballot.
In the East, all voting blocs – fans, media and players – picked the same five starters, albeit in different orders. Giannis Antetokounmpo won the fan vote and placed second (behind Cade Cunningham) in the player vote, and fifth in the media vote. Cade finished second in the media vote, first by players (which is a huge sign of respect) and fourth in fan voting. Jaylen Brown won the media vote and finished third in player vote and fifth in fan vote. Tyrese Maxey and Jalen Brunson nabbed the other two spots, each doing slightly better in fan and media voting than player voting. Donovan Mitchell, the other potential starter, finished sixth in all three categories. The three other players who received multiple media votes: Karl-Anthony Towns, Jalen Johnson and Jalen Duren (who finished 30th, just ahead of Jay Huff, in the player vote). Here are the full East voting results.
There was less consensus in the West. Deni Avdija actually surged to fifth place in fan voting ahead of Victor Wembanyama and Anthony Edwards (?!), but had minimal media or player support. Wembanyama also got disrespected by players – finishing No. 7, but landed a starter spot by virtue of finishing one media vote ahead of Edwards. Ant will not be a starter. He finished well ahead of Big Vic on the player vote, but 4,500 fans votes and that one media vote behind Wembanyama. Welp. Meanwhile, Luka Doncic won the fan vote (he's going to win the fan vote for the next decade, probably) and finished No. 2 in media voting, tied with Nikola Jokic and behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, both of whom are also starters, obviously. Interestingly, Luka finished just sixth in player voting behind (in order) Jokic, Stephen Curry (another starter), Shai, Ant and Kevin Durant. Huh! The media (correctly) had Edwards over Curry, but the fan voting and that narrow margin behind Wembanyama killed him. Other notes: Alperen Sengun suffered from the players' Euroskepticism (non-Jokic edition), LeBron got multiple media votes as a starter (he's totally getting selected by coaches) and 10 players got together to vote for Georges Niang, which is probably a funny text thread. Here are the full West voting results.
So what of the reserves, seven for each conference regardless of position? Here are my picks.
EAST: Donovan Mitchell, Scottie Barnes, Jalen Johnson, Norman Powell, Pascal Siakam, Jalen Duren, Bam Adebayo. (Yes, I know Towns is getting one of those spots. I don't have to like it. He's been his worst on-court self for a month plus now.)
WEST: Anthony Edwards, Kevin Durant, Jamal Murray, 2026 All-Star MVP Kawhi Leonard (please let it happen), Devin Booker, LeBron James (yeah, I did it), Deni Avdija.
Do I feel bad about leaving any East snub off the ballot? No, absolutely not. There hasn't been an easier path to the All-Star team since Jamaal Magloire graced those hallowed halls. Step it up.
Do I feel bad about leaving any West snub off the ballot? Yes. Chet Holmgren and Alperen Sengun, certainly. Jim Harden a little bit. Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle, somewhat. I would take 2-3 of those West snubs over actual East picks, to be honest. The conference system is weird. Just go full baseball and elect at least one All-Star per team. Give me Kon Knueppel, Santi Aldama and, uhhh, Russell Westbrook? DeMar DeRozan?
One more twist: if we're going to get really weird with All-Star, why not give the winningest head coaches a real prize (vacation) and have the coaches of the worst teams coach the squads? They finally have good players to lead! I want Doug Christie drawing up plays for Jokic and Shai while they are trying to hide their laughter. I want Brian Keefe telling Giannis and Brunson "this is a play we have for Kyshawn George and Bub Carrington." Innovate, Adam Silver!
Say It Ain't So
Jimmy Butler reportedly tore his ACL in the Warriors' win over the Heat on Monday. Assuming that's true, he'll miss the rest of this season and the start of next, and given that he's 36, his career may never be the same. The Warriors, assuming the reports are true, may never be the same either. They'd been on a hot run for just about a month now, pulling themselves into the race for the No. 6 seed. Butler was a sizable part of that success, just as he was down the stretch last season before injuries ruined Golden State's playoff run. There is real danger now that there won't be a playoff run: the Warriors are 1.5 games out of the top six, and none of the seven teams above them are dealing with anything as brutal as an ACL tear to their second best player. The Clippers are looming as both a threat to catch up in the regular season and a play-in foe.
This also represents a potential twist in the Jonathan Kuminga saga. Remember that he became persona non grata for Steve Kerr once Butler arrived; after testing it out, Kerr declared that a team couldn't play all of Butler, Draymond Green and Kuminga minutes. That calculus changed in the second round once Stephen Curry went down; Kuminga came in and scored in heaps. The Warriors still lost.
Kuminga is trade eligible and everyone assumes the Warriors are weighing offers. That might change if Kerr thinks he can slot Kuminga into Butler's role and hope for the best. De'Anthony Melton would be the other option, but he's already taken on a hefty role of late. It's worth noting that Kuminga did not get into the game despite dressing after Butler's injury on Monday.
As Butler's timeline becomes known, we'll be able to reflect on exactly how big a disaster this is for the Warriors and what it means for his career. But for now, the answer is that it's really, really bad.
Scores
Bucks 112, Hawks 110 – Quite a wild ending after Atlanta trailed by 23 in the third. A critical turnover by Jalen Johnson, an insane fast break finish from Giannis and clutch free throws and defense from Kyle Kuzma (!!!) saved the day.
The Bucks are a half-game out of the No. 10 seed.
Thunder 136, Cavaliers 104 – It was a lot closer than it looks most of the game. Still a dominant performance from the OKC starters.
Clippers 110, Wizards 106 – Neither team led by more than 10. Jim Harden is taking care of business. Ivica Zubac has been playing much, much better since L.A. turned its season around. Other than Kawhi Leonard's scoring outburst, that may have been the biggest factor in the pivot. But Harden has been solid all along.
The Clippers are 13-2 since December 18. They are in sole possession of No. 10 in the West, two games behind No. 9 Portland and five games behind No. 8 Golden State.
Mavericks 114, Knicks 97 – The nightmare continues. Getting run by a sub-play-in team at home in a matinee is brutal. Trade rumors involving Karl-Anthony Towns are floating around. Mike Brown is hinting at changes to come. I honestly wonder if KAT should come off the bench behind Mitchell Robinson. The defense just isn't good enough.
Jazz 110, Spurs 123 – I continue to be thrilled about getting to watch Dylan Harper grow as an NBA player in high-leverage games over the next several years.
When Victor Wembanyama's shot is falling, most opponents should give up.
Pacers 104, Sixers 113 – It's a terrible opponent, but! Joel Embiid: 30 on 10/17 shooting, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 turnover. Tyrese Maxey: 29 points on 12/24 shooting, 8 assists, 8 steals (!), 2 turnovers. Beautiful.
Also beautiful: V.J. Edgecombe going to the rim.
Celtics 103, Pistons 104 – Barnburner in Detroit. What I mean is that we're going to need to barn down the burn to generate some heat because these teams were ice cold. But don't worry, we can rebuild it with all the bricks.
Still a very tense, competitive finish. Cade Cunningham is a masterful floor general and Tobias Harris is, uh, clutch.
Schedule
Did you know that AWS (Amazon Web Services) is the title sponsor for NBA Rivals Week? And that this is NBA Rivals Week? Yes: Monday was MLK Day, an opportunity for reflections on equality, non-violent movements and service ... and Tuesday through Sunday are NBA Rivals Week. Sure.
I'm going to bold the games that the NBA and Mr. Bezos say are NBA Rivals Week games. It's also Coast2Coast Tuesday. NBA Coast2Coast Rivals Week Tuesday. The first of all time!
All times Eastern.
Suns at Sixers, 7
Clippers at Bulls, 8
Spurs at Rockets, 8, Peacock for all/NBC for some
Timberwolves at Jazz, 9
Lakers at Nuggets, 10, Peacock for all/NBC for some
Raptors at Warriors, 10
Heat at Kings, 10
(In what meaningful way has Spurs vs. Rockets been a rivalry since, uh, Admiral vs. Dream? I would like it to be a rivalry over the next few years but that doesn't make it so. Until it happens, I'm calling this the Carl Herrera Bowl.)
(It strikes me that many readers may not be familiar with two-time NBA champion Carl Herrera. He was the first and probably best Venezuelan player in the NBA, splitting his career between the Rockets and Spurs. He was a very '90s player.)
Be excellent to each other.
