March 7th is rapidly approaching and yessir you guessed it, The NBA All Star weekend is back! The events and game will all take place on the same day this year as the game is expected to tip off at around 8:00 P.M.Eastern time in Atlanta.
As always the All Star teams are stacked and hese teams should be a ton of fun to watch…that is if certain players who previously mentioned their dislike towards the event don’t opt-out. Currently, the East will be represented by comeback player of the year candidate Kevin Durant, the greek freak Giannis Antetokounmpo, the league’s scoring leader Bradley Beal, MVP Candidate Joel Embiid, and Nets star Kyrie Irving.
Opposing them from the West we begin with Lebron James. James has stated, “I have zero energy and zero excitement…” towards the All Star game although he tallied the most votes and recieved team captain. He recently referred to the game as, “A slap in the face” to players who was expecting a weekend off to relax and rejuvenate for the second half of the season.
James is followed by now 7x All Star PG Steph Curry, daily triple double threats in Luca Doncic and Nikola Jokic, and 5x All Star Kawhi Leonard who also took home last years Game MVP award.
Lakers star Anthony Davis was selected as a reserve but will not play due to a nagging leg injury and will be replaced by Devin Booker of the Suns.
Booker is averaging 25 points per game this season and will make his second All Star appearance. With D-Book originally being snubbed out of a position of the eastern conference roster, players and fans were sent into an uproar in which they expressed that the disrespect towards the Sun’s young guard was off the charts.
With that being said the reserves from the east include first time All Star Jaylen Brown, 3x scoring champ and 9x All Star James Harden, Zach Lavine who has been on a scoring rampage throughout the entirety of the season by averaging 28.8 PPG, Julius Randle who is enjoying career highs in PPG and RPG, and rounded off by Ben Simmons, Jayson Tatum, and Nikola Vucevic.
The west reserves begins with Paul George earning his seventh career all star bid, reigning defensive player of the year Rudy Gobert, surprise reserve Damien Lillard, Donovan Mitchell, Chris Paul, and first time All Star Zion Williamson.
Expect a fun and entertaining game that always seems to deliver. Even if players decide to opt out of the game, some reserves deserve the right to be named starters. Enjoy everybody and as always, stay safe out there.
