The Real 2020 NBA All-Star Team
Four starters the league got wrong and why Zach LaVine, Devin Booker, and Vince Carter belong in the All-Star Game…
MOST YEARS, WE FRET OVER FINDING ENOUGH ALL-STAR SPOTS FOR EVERYONE. This year it’s the opposite problem. The last couple spots in each conference go to guys that feel destined to end up as one- or two-time All-Stars.
Why is that? Just check the injury list. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving will start for the East All-Stars next February. Steph Curry will battle Doncic and Harden for the West guard spots. Zion Williamson will be an All-Star. Klay Thompson, Victor Oladipo, and Blake Griffin should all push for roster spots. That’s three perennial All-Stars and at least four more strong candidates all missing from this year’s 24-man ballot.
Nonetheless, you get your NBA media pass revoked if you don’t post your NBA All-Star picks, so it’s time to get dat paycheck.
As always, I don’t have any silly rules about rewarding winning records or playing the most minutes, I don’t care much about past accolades, and I’m not penalizing guys for having bad teammates. Some of that stuff might be a tiebreaker as needed. Mostly, we’re just looking for the 12 guys in each conference having the best individual seasons so far.
WEST STARTERS
Luka Doncic
I’ll make each pick in the order I’d select them, so Luka Doncic is the #1 All-Star out of the West. Luka is putting up an unprecedented 29/9/9/20 — that’s 29 points, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists a game at age 20. This dude can’t even drink legally in the States for another month, and yet he’s the engine behind the league’s #1 offense without any real significant help. The crazy thing is he’s only shooting 32% from deep and 76% from the line, so he’s only going to get better. Just incredible.
James Harden
James Harden is scoring 36.1 points a game for a good team and he’s not even a top-2 MVP candidate. The bottom of the All-Star rosters might be weak, but the top end is as ridiculous as ever. Maybe Harden should be the top pick in the West. Let’s not belabor the point.
LeBron James
It feels like LeBron is going to win MVP this year. The Lakers are 36–10 and even better than that if you take out one wonky, injured week, and now the Lakers narrative machine is going to engulf the rest of the season. And honestly, maybe that’s okay. If you put up a 25/8/11 and lead the league in assists at age 35 while revitalizing a franchise in the wake of a tragedy, you’re probably a deserving MVP.
Kawhi Leonard
I went into this exercise thinking Kawhi might not deserve a starting spot, but he’s been even better than I thought. His assists are way up and he’s another guy that could be an MVP candidate in most seasons but he won’t even make many ballots this year. Leonard has missed less time than you think, and he’s just took over the NBA world in June. He starts.
Nikola Jokic
This is the one West starter we got wrong. The numbers are pretty comparable to Anthony Davis in some ways. The shooting numbers are similar. Brow scores 7 more points per game, but Jokic makes up that margin with his passing. Jokic has a slight edge as a rebounder. Davis is obviously the far better defender, but Jokic has played more and has slightly better numbers. And more importantly, he’s the only thing even close to an All-Star on a team with the fourth best record in the NBA. Even in a disappointing season, Nikola Jokic has still been a superstar, and I’d give him a starter spot over Davis.
EAST STARTERS
Giannis Antetokounmpo
The best player on the best team with the best numbers and maybe no second All-Star teammate. The Bucks are on a 71-win pace and Giannis is better than ever, and he might be the Defensive Player of the Year, too.
Jimmy Butler
Butler is the one guy who should really be upset he isn’t an All-Star starter. Honestly, he’s been awesome. The Heat are shockingly tied for the fourth best record in the NBA and while all the talk is about culture and development, he is at the heart of that stuff. Butler’s defense is back and he has a monster free throw rate. This is probably the best Butler has played in his career. Unfortunately the players voted him sixth among Eastern forwards because, well, when you quit on three teams in four years, it turns out people notice.
Ben Simmons
We got the wrong Sixers starter, and we might still have the wrong Philly superstar too. Ben Simmons leads Philadelphia in minutes, a full 667 more than Joel Embiid, and he has double his VORP and better defensive metrics in some measurements too. Now that Embiid has been out awhile, Philly has finally been forced to unleash Simmons for the player he’s supposed to be, a Giannis lite surrounded by four shooters that space the court, and he’s been magnificent. Maybe it’s time we focus on what Ben Simmons is instead of worrying so much about what he isn’t.
Bam Adebayo
We got the wrong starting East center too. Bam Adebayo is simply more deserving this season. His defense has been better and more valuable, and his offense is not as loud but it’s a lot more efficient. And again, it matters that he’s played a full 61% more basketball. Adebayo’s value is his ability to play huge minutes in a variety of roles and do all the things that unlock Miami’s many moving parts. He’s your Most Improved Player at the break, and he better at least make the East reserves.
Kemba Walker
Kemba is having a lovely season. He’s definitely an All-Star but only really a starter because of those missing injured names. Oh well — happy to celebrate a guy that’s worked hard and gotten better every season, and also happy to celebrate the only Boston Celtic on my All-Star roster.
4 LOCK RESERVES FROM EACH CONFERENCE
Damian Lillard
Dame is this generation’s forgotten superstar. Portland has stumbled this season, but it ain’t Dame’s fault. He’s having his best season ever, his 28.8ppg and 62% true shooting both career highs, and he scored 61, 47, and 50 in his last three games. Poor Lillard would be a deserving All-Star starter over every East player not named Giannis, but he’ll never even start in the West with Doncic, Harden, and usually Curry around.
Anthony Davis
Yes, this means Anthony Davis would be my seventh All-Star pick in the West. Forget all that talk about how the conferences are balanced now. The West still has seven of the eight best players in the NBA right now.
Chris Paul
I picked CP3 on my preseason All-NBA team and had the Thunder in my playoffs, but even I didn’t expect him to be this good. Do you realize Chris Paul hasn’t been an All-Star in four seasons? That changes now.
Rudy Gobert
Rudy Gobert has still never been an All Star. He’s been deserving several seasons running now, even if his game isn’t sexy like most of the others. He’s a perennial top-3 defender, an efficiency monster, and the best player on a top-10 team. And he has been for awhile now.
Joel Embiid
Embiid is my top East reserve, so it’s fine that he’s a starter. The Sixers are 22–10 with Embiid and 9–7 without him. He’s a star, and he’s finally gotten quite efficient on offense, too. He still hasn’t figured out how to get his body in shape to make an impact every night, and that matters, and he’s still not the right fit with Ben Simmons either but that’s not his fault.
Kyle Lowry
Thank God the Toronto Raptors won the NBA championship so we can finally properly appreciate Kyle Lowry. I don’t care what you tell me. Lowry is still the heart of the Raptors and still my top Toronto All-Star.
Bradley Beal Trae Young
And now we get to the presumed empty Calorie guys. Beal’s at 29 points, 4.5 boards, and 6 dimes. Trae matches those numbers but with 9 assists a game. Neither has any real help (at least Young didn’t, while John Collins was out). The next highest VORP on the Hawks is Damian Jones, who you didn’t even know was on the team.
You can’t win basketball games with one player, but that doesn’t mean that player isn’t All-Star worthy. If you score almost 30 efficient points a game at just under 60% true shooting while leading your team in assists with 10 defensive eyes are on you all at times, you’re worth celebrating. I’d give Beal a slight nod over Young because he’s the heart of a top-10 offense while Atlanta ranks dead last, but they’re both absolutely deserving, and they’re guys every fan wants to watch in the All-Star Game. Let’s not overthink this.
ALSO-RANS THAT DON’T COUNT AS SNUBS
Not everyone can be an All-Star, and this season especially, we need to stop pretending guys are snubbed. We get 12 spots in each conference and that’s it. If you’re not one of the top 12, do better, especially when in a season with All-Star vacancies from Steph, KD, Kyrie, Klay, Oladipo, and others.
I’ve chosen 9 All Stars from each conference so far, so that leaves 3 spots left in each conference. These are some guys I glanced it without really considering strongly for any of those spots.
The East has a whole bunch of interesting guards, but again, you can have a nice season and not be an All-Star snub. Spencer Dinwiddie averaged 25 and 7 without Kyrie Irving and led the Nets to a 13–14 record (vs 6–11 with him), but the shooting numbers are pretty tough and the defense is bad so it feels like volume more than anything else. Derrick Rose’s three-point shooting has disappeared again but he’s averaging career bests in 2%, field goal %, and points per 36 minutes, and that’s a heck of a thing for a former MVP. I won’t hate if he gets to be an All-Star in Chicago, but I’m also not picking a backup from a 17–31 team.
Malcolm Brogdon was an All Star at the quarter season mark, but he’s fallen off hard and missed a bunch of time. Jaylen Brown has been better than I expected after that fat contract but I fear it may be mostly hot shooting, so I need to see more. Devonte’ Graham is hitting 39% of his threes… but an abysmal 36% of his twos. Eric Bledsoe is a no from me, dawg. Honestly, I might give my next East guard spot to Fred VanVleet over all those guys I just listed. He’s like Devonte’ Graham but with more defense and winning.
There aren’t many East front court options worth mentioning. I was expecting to make a stealth case for Brook Lopez but his shot has betrayed him (30% behind the arc) this year. Andre Drummond is known for his defense and his rebounding, but Detroit has a bottom-10 defense and they rebound better with him off the court. Jonathan Isaac is the far better defender but does even less on offense.
A handful of West guards might have been All-Stars in the East. D’Angelo Russell already was last season. His numbers are a lot better than you think, but he’s missed half the season for the league’s worst team. Jrue Holiday is awesome and would help any team but this is not his All-Star year. Not yet for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Ja Morant. SGA is having the better all-around season. Morant’s defense needs work, and let’s see if that three-point shot holds up before we start the Ja over Zion talk.
LaMarcus Aldridge is finally shooting threes and has the best true shooting % of his career. Montrezl Harrell is doing Montrezl Harrell things but I’d sooner give an All-Star spot to Steven Adams, Joe Ingles, or Will Barton. These are “glue guys” not All Stars, but they’re awesome and worth celebrating.
There you go — 20 guys worth celebrating, but none of them count as All-Star snubs. None of them were among my final consideration.
Let’s fill out the end of those rosters…
7 CANDIDATES FOR 3 FINAL WEST SPOTS
Devin Booker DeMar DeRozan Paul George Brandon Ingram Donovan Mitchell Karl-Anthony Towns Russell Westbrook
Those are our final 7 candidates for the last 3 spots out West, and with due respect to an awesome career, I just can’t give Russell Westbrook much consideration anymore. Last year I included him under the premise of him averaging a triple-double and just feeling like an All Star. This year he’s not anymore and he just doesn’t feel like one.
The next guy out is Paul George. PG has played only 799 minutes this season. That’s less than 210 NBA players, including guys like Darius Bazley, Bryn Forbes, Solomon Hill, Brad Wanamaker, and Alex Caruso. George has played only 26 games, and he’s been good but not great in them. PG is ninth in minutes on his own team. If you play that little, you have to leave no doubt.
Karl-Anthony Towns, to me, leaves no doubt. He’s a few free throws short of a 50/40/90 season with an absurd 65% true shooting that stacks up against dudes like Rudy Gobert that mostly dunk the ball. Towns shoots 8.2 threes a game though, and it’s pretty easy to see how much he’s producing despite precious little help around him. The Wolves fell apart without Towns, but that’s not his fault. He’s only played a little more than PG, but he’s been a borderline top-5 offensive player when on the court and that guy has to be an All-Star, even if he literally hasn’t won a basketball game in two months.
That leaves two spots for Booker, DDR, Ingram, and Spida, all of whom have similar cases. Only one guy on that list is a positive on defense and plays for a really good team, so that’s a pretty easy tiebreak in Donovan Mitchell’s favor.
I spent a long time debating between DeMar DeRozan and Brandon Ingram. This might actually be DeRozan’s best season, even though I don’t think anyone’s even considering him for one of these spots. He has a career high true shooting by over 5%, even without shooting threes. Ingram’s numbers have the slightest of edges but might be a bit of shooting variance. I was leaning toward siding with DeRozan.
But the truth is I was only debating those two guys because I miscounted and thought I had an extra spot. Both of them fall short of Devin Booker by a decent margin. Booker has transformed his game, taking fewer threes and developing a more Mamba-like game, and it’s made him more, not less, efficient. His free throw rate is up and he’s making 57% of his twos en route to 63% true shooting, and he’s even giving a little bit on defense too.
I’ve dumped a lot on Booker and DeRozan over the years, and maybe it’s just because it’s Kobe week, but these guys have finally modernized their games this season and that feels worth celebrating.
6 CANDIDATES FOR 3 FINAL EAST SPOTS
Zach LaVine Khris Middleton Domantas Sabonis Pascal Siakam Jayson Tatum Nikola Vucevic
I’ll be brutally honest — I don’t think any of these guys should be All Stars. They just don’t feel like All Stars to me, and they wouldn’t be if not for all the injuries. These are mostly the sort of names that we look at their Basketball Reference page in 10 years and try to remember why we decided they were All Stars for a season or three.
The one name I feel bad saying that about is Pascal Siakam. I backed Siakam over and over again on his way up, and he’s one of my favorite players to watch. But we really need a more realistic view of Siakam. I’m seeing people put Siakam on MVP ballots, and that’s just absurd. He’s missed a third of his team’s games and is sixth on the Raptors in VORP. The numbers are good but not as good as you remember when you looked at them in awe after the first month. Listen, Pascal Siakam is awesome and I am happy to celebrate him. I’m just saying his All-Star case is far worse than you think and there’s no way he’s an All-Star starter or MVP candidate. Still, he’s on my team.
Nik Vucevic is not, but I’m surprised he hasn’t even gotten a whisper. Vooch missed some time but has mostly matched last year’s production. You’re seriously listing Evan Fournier among your considerations? Get outta here.
I can’t get there with Jayson Tatum either. Tatum’s case is kind of similar to Siakam, but he just doesn’t feel as impactful or as much of a star. He’s a quality all-around player whose best case is “the Celtics deserve a second All Star,” and they do, but that second All Star’s name is Brad Stevens.
We never gave Arvydas Sabonis an All-Star Game, and that is a travesty. I truly don’t think Domantas Sabonis feels like an All Star, and I’m not picking him under “the Pacers deserve a spot” premise either, but the numbers speak for themselves are 18 and 13 with better defense than you think, efficient scoring, and more assists than dad ever had. Sabonis gets a spot, but I’m doing it in honor of pops.
I know Khris Middleton just scored 51 and that means he’s technically averaging 20ppg now, and I know he’s going to make the ASG as the second best player on a 40–6 team. I just can’t get there. I’m underwhelmed. Middleton just feels like the epitome of a Second-Team All Star, and he already got an undeserved appearance last year.
I’m giving my last spot to Zach LaVine, another guy I’ve slandered plenty over the years. LaVine is literally the only Bull with a positive OBPM. Do you know how hard it must be to carry an entire offense, even a bad one? Zach’s numbers don’t measure up to fellow good-stats-bad-team guys Beal and Trae, but at the end of the day, I just think his 25/5/4 is harder to pull off than Middleton’s 20/6/5. It’s a vote of respect for the greatness of Giannis in some ways, and you know what? Yeah, I want a Chicago Bull playing in the United Center on All-Star Sunday. Sue me.
ONE LAST ALL STAR
Last year, I was out ahead of the NBA when I pushed for Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki to be honorary All Stars. Adam Silver obviously read my article and agreed, and I think this is a nice tradition to carry on — within reason.
Let’s not just give two guys a legacy All-Star berth every season. We’ll reserve this special commissioner power for all-time greats. Guys like Vince Carter. Vinsanity is one of the all-time stars, a longtime fixture of All-Star Weekend. He’ll never do the dunk contest again, but he should be part of the game, and Trae should give him the starting spot too.
I’ll pass on picking Carmelo Anthony too, for a couple reasons. One, Melo hasn’t confirmed this is his final season, so this is no going away gift. We can’t give him a final spot and then watch him play another year. Two, we need to stay away from establishing a pattern of picking two honorary All Stars every year. This is a special commissioner dispensation. It can be two when needed, one sometimes, zero others. We don’t need Tyson Chandler and Rudy Gay as legacy All Stars next year, just because we need to fill two spots.
But I do want to see Vince playing one more time with superstars, and I think every other NBA fan does too.
And you know what? If you need symmetry and just have to have one more honorary All-Star in the West to even things out, I can think of one other name worth recognizing...
2020 NBA ALL STARS
EAST STARTERS
Ben Simmons Kemba Walker Giannis Antetokounmpo Jimmy Butler Bam Adebayo
EAST RESERVES
Joel Embiid Kyle Lowry Bradley Beal Trae Young Pascal Siakam Domantas Sabonis Zach LaVine
WEST STARTERS
Luka Doncic James Harden LeBron James Kawhi Leonard Nikola Jokic
WEST RESERVES
Damian Lillard Anthony Davis Chris Paul Rudy Gobert Karl-Anthony Towns Donovan Mitchell Devin Booker
LEGACY ALL STAR
Vince Carter
FOREVER ALL STAR
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