NBA recap: All-Star starter selections and games to watch
Eastern Conference All-Star starters
G – Kyrie Irving
G – Victor Oladipo
F – Kawhi Leonard
F – Giannis Antetokounmpo
C – Joel Embiid
Four of the five spots were simple to select. Giannis Antetokounmpo is the MVP frontrunner for the team with the best record in the NBA with 26.4 points (shooting 58.1 percent from the field), 12.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.4 steals per game for the season. Kawhi Leonard is averaging a career-high in points (27.6) and rebounds per game (7.9) while maintaining his otherworldly defense and pacing the Toronto Raptors to the most wins in the NBA.
Joel Embiid is having a career year himself, with his points (27.1), rebounds (13.1), assists (3.6) and minutes (33.4) being career highs on a per game basis. His rim protection hasn’t dropped a bit for a Philadelphia 76ers team that’s 31-17 either. Lastly, Kyrie Irving has made waves for his leadership comments in postgame media sessions, but Uncle Drew is still mesmerizing with the ball in his hands and one of the best scorers in the NBA while taking on a more playmaking role (career-high 6.9 assists per game) for a Boston Celtics team trying to find its stride.
The final guard spot was a little challenging, and perhaps too much time was spent trying to decide who will join Kyrie. The four options for the spot are Kyle Lowry, Ben Simmons, Victor Oladipo and Kemba Walker. All four are the primary ball-handlers on teams currently in the playoffs while having impressive seasons individually, but the thought process behind this final selection was to represent the five best teams in the Eastern Conference with one starter.
This means Oladipo gets the nod over the other three. Kemba has the least amount of help and is the highest scorer, but has slowed down his scoring production in recent weeks. Lowry is the arguably the Raptors’ most important player and has led them to impressive wins when Kawhi rested, but the numbers outside of assists leave more to be desired.
Simmons is the most versatile defender of the bunch with a nearly identical stat line compared to last season, but playing with Embiid and Jimmy Butler compared to Oladipo being the focal point of the Indiana Pacers swung the decision his way.
Oladipo’s numbers are slightly down from last season’s Most Improved Player winning campaign, but he’s still the best player on the current 3-seed in the East. He’s the best perimeter defender out of the guards in contention while being the Pacers’ leading scorer, fourth-leading rebounder, second-leading assist man and leader in steals.
He’s the best all-around player of this group and having the Pacers at the 3-seed is impressive. The argument against him is the decreased shooting percentages and the fact the Pacers went 7-4 in a 11-game stretch that Oladipo missed, but a 31-15 record overall is an achievement for this team.
With players so close in terms of numbers and team success, vying to have the five best teams each have a starter seemed reasonable. D’Angelo Russell‘s run over the last month should put him in consideration, as should Bradley Beal‘s numbers without John Wall, but Oladipo wins out in the end over the other contenders.