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NBA: Does the East or West have more star power now?

By Josh Cornelissen

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 16: James Harden #13 of the Brooklyn Nets dribbles during the first half against the Orlando Magic at Barclays Center on January 16, 2021 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 16: James Harden #13 of the Brooklyn Nets dribbles during the first half against the Orlando Magic at Barclays Center on January 16, 2021 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /
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NBA, James Harden Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Image /

All-NBA Comparison

The MVP award often rewards a narrow set of players, offensive engines on successful teams. That’s the most valuable type of player, so it makes sense, but looking at the All-NBA teams can give us a slightly more broad look at star power in the NBA. It’s also more helpful that All-Star teams, as each conference has equal representation for All-Star rosters but the All-NBA teams are not balanced that way.

Looking at the last ten seasons, 39 active players have been named to an All-NBA team. Of those 39, 18 of them (46 percent) are currently in the Eastern Conference. By that quick-and-dirty mark, the West still has more stars.

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The divide becomes even more stark when you total up the individual selections. LeBron James has made the All-NBA team all ten of the seasons in question. While the second-and-third-most selections belong to Eastern Conference players — Russell Westbrook and James Harden, respectively — in total the West far outpaces the East, with 67 total selections to the East’s 47.

To narrow the scope more recently, last year’s 15 selections are almost evenly split, with eight players currently in the West and seven in the East. That includes a few players such as Russell Westbrook, Pascal Siakam and Jimmy Butler who at this point are not on track for another selection this year.

The optimism for the Eastern Conference would be the age of its stars. They have had a number of young players make their first All-NBA team over the past few seasons, such as Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum and Siakam; all are young and on the rise, and can reasonably expect to be in the All-NBA mix for years to come.

For now, however, the Western Conference still holds the edge in All-NBA players, both past and present.

Verdict: Advantage West