5 unlikely candidates to make the 2020 NBA All-Star Game

5. Luka Doncic

It’s silly to think about in the present, but even coming off a historic Rookie of the Year season, there were two factors at play that would presumably hold Luka Doncic back from the NBA All-Star Game in his second season.

As a guard in the Western Conference, Doncic is up against a plethora of talented ballhandlers all vying for a handful of open spaces.

Stephen Curry, James Harden, Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker, Russell Westbrook, Jrue Holiday, Mike Conley and others were among Luka’s competitors. An injury to Curry — and Klay Thompson last June — cleared some of the playing field, but it would take a lot for Doncic to leapfrog a majority of that group and earn a trip to Chicago.

Second and more importantly, the Dallas Mavericks weren’t exactly a lock for the playoffs, a determining factor that can give one player the edge over another in the selection process.

https://twitter.com/dallasmavs/status/1210635342350561282

They added Kristaps Porzingis almost a year ago, but several questions remained about his health and the overall talent of the Mavericks’ roster.

Suffice to say Doncic has done everything to make those question marks disappear in an instant. Dallas is fifth in the West at 21-12 and Luka is defying every law of basketball by averaging 29.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 8.9 assists per game as a 20-year-old sophomore.

With both types of success in his back pocket, Doncic is a lock to make the All-Star Game. The real question now lies in whether or not he’ll earn the starting nod. Although, given his absurd play and popularity, that seems like a laughable question at this point as well.