Every year, there is a debate about which players should and shouldn’t be selected for the All-Star game. There is a lot of talent in the league currently, which means a lot of players could be considered for the game.
One of the debates about the All-Star game is about whether the selection should factor in “impact on winning”. We often see players from good teams be selected for the All-Star game, even if they aren’t individually better than other players from subpar teams. There have definitely been some big snubs in recent memory, such as DeMar DeRozan last year with the Spurs.
Stan Van Gundy has recently provided an argument against the idea that “a team’s record should determine its number of All-Stars”. He provided the example of Nikola Jokic, who is currently putting up 25.9 PPG, 13.9 RPG, and 7.5 APG on the 6th seeded Denver Nuggets. Van Gundy claimed that even though “teams don’t win big” with only one star like the Nuggets, their record “doesn’t negate his play”.
JJ Redick seemed to agree with Stan Van Gundy, claiming that the All-Star game “should be a celebration of individual greatness”, with some “consideration” for a player’s “impact on winning”.
All stars should be a celebration of individual greatness with a consideration for impact on winning. Pretty simple.
— JJ Redick (@jj_redick) January 22, 2022
Stan Van Gundy: NBA fans who think a team’s record should determine it’s number of all-stars — teams don’t win big with one star (i.e. Jokic) but that doesn’t negate his play. And teams like Miami have their entire team producing. That doesn’t mean that any player is necessarily in the top 12.
JJ Redick: All stars should be a celebration of individual greatness with a consideration for impact on winning. Pretty simple.
It is clear that there are times when a team’s record benefits players who get selected for the All-Star game. It makes sense, as winning is the goal of basketball. With that being said, there are also times when extremely talented players get penalized for being on subpar rosters with no co-star, so there has to be a balance between those two things when considering All-Star selections.
Hopefully, we see the most deserving candidates be selected for the All-Star game. Watching the best of the best is the most exciting part of the All-Star weekend, and it’ll be interesting to see who gets selected this season.
