Mike Conley is finally fulfilling his dream of becoming an All-Star after 14 seasons in the NBA. The Utah Jazz point guard has been part of the Western Conference his entire career and that has hurt his chances to make it to the game but that changed on Friday night when commissioner Adam Silver named him the replacement for Devin Booker on Team Durant.
This was really good for the player, who has played great basketball during his NBA career, and now he’s been rewarded. However, not everybody was happy to see Conley making it to the game, at least not before DeMar DeRozan, the leader of the surprising San Antonio Spurs.
DeRozan is actually averaging more points, rebounds, and assists than Mike Conley, also shooting better than him from the field but the shooting guard wasn’t the one selected to replace Booker and that honor went to the Jazz that sent three players to the big game for the second time in history.
Conley: 16.1pts/3.5reb/5.7ast on 58.8% TS
DeRozan: 20.0pts/4.9reb/7.2ast on 59.4% TS
This decision didn’t sit well with some fans, who decided to share their disagreement with the decision, making the case for DeRozan while others defended the league and Conley.
DeRozan even reacted to this, calling it BS and saying he just laugh at it. The San Antonio Spurs are the only winning team in the West without an All-Star and everybody thought that honor was going to belong to DeRozan but none of that happened.
Mike Conley is the first player in NBA history named to his first All-Star game in his 14th season or later. pic.twitter.com/NX89hzj3TG
— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) March 6, 2021
The game is on, nothing can be changed now and DeMar will have to wait his chance next year to see if he can become a 5x All-Star.
