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Biggest All-Star Starter Snubs

By Zack Geoghegan

Feb 14, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Western Conference guard Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder (0) celebrates after being named MVP of the NBA All Star Game at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 14, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Western Conference guard Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder (0) celebrates after being named MVP of the NBA All Star Game at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /
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January 16, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) during a stoppage in play against the Los Angeles Clippers during the second half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /

The All-Star Starters have been revealed, who was left out?

The starting lineups for the 66th NBA All-Star game were announced on Thursday and everyone is upset.

The NBA implemented a new strategy for deciding who becomes an All-Star starter. Instead of the starters being voted in solely by the fans, the new system gives the fans half of the vote, while the media gets 25 percent and the players themselves get the remaining 25 percent.

The new system prevented players such as ZaZa Pachulia from getting the starting spot (which he would have if the vote was solely fan-centric), but resulted in players such as Raymond Felton and Quincy Pondexter receiving All-Star votes from their peers (no offense to those players, but in no way should they be getting votes over LeBron James or Kevin Durant).

The NBA should take a look at placing restrictions on who players/media members can vote for so the more-deserving guys can get in.

Zaza Pachulia still finished 12th in the Western Conference frontcourt player voting results, ahead of Nikola Jokic, Rudy Gobert, and Blake Griffin.

It’s the first season trying the new system and I’m sure it’ll be tweaked in the future, but overall it’s a great new idea to include everyone in the voting process. The players and media are the ones closest to the NBA, so they should be allowed to vote.

That’s the end of my tiny rant, let’s take a look at who was voted to start in this year’s All-Star game.

Eastern Conference: DeMar DeRozan (TOR), Kyrie Irving (CLE), LeBron James (CLE), Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL), and Jimmy Butler (CHI).

Western Conference: Kawhi Leonard (SAS), Kevin Durant (OKC GSW), Steph Curry (GSW), Anthony Davis (NOP), and James Harden (HOU).

For the most part, I think almost all of these players deserve to be named starters.

The obvious choices such as LeBron, KD, Harden, and Kawhi, I have no problem with.

Giannis, Butler, Steph, and Davis all have a strong case for being selected, but then I see Kyrie and DeRozan were named starters and I begin to wonder who they were picked over.

Obviously, Russell Westbrook has a case for replacing Steph and I personally have no clue how DeRozan got in over Isaiah Thomas or even his teammate, Kyle Lowry, but that’s how the new system worked out.

But who else should have been considered? Who are the biggest snubs for this year’s All-Star starters? Let’s take a look and start with Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers.