NBA: Updating our picks for the 2020-21 NBA All-Star rosters

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Western Conference NBA Starters

Backcourt: Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors; Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers

In the thick of the MVP discussion is Stephen Curry, putting together another supernova offensive season for the Warriors. He has 29 more 3-point field goals than anyone else with 117, and is second in the league in scoring with 29.5 points per game. He carries his team offensively more than any other team in the playoff mix, and is still doing incredible things despite the deficiencies around him.

Damian Lillard is, yet again, Curry-lite in his play — and that is no knock on Lillard. He is now fifth in the league with 29.1 points per game, taking the entire offensive load with CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic out with injuries. He is third in 3-pointers made, fifth in free throws made and tied for sixth in win shares. In short he is the Clyde Drexler to Curry’s Jordan, exceptional but always just a shade behind.

Frontcourt: LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers; Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets; Kawhi Leonard, LA Clippers

LeBron James gets older every year, but the only evidence we have of that is the calendar. The Los Angeles Lakers made moves this offseason that haven’t panned out as well as they hoped, and yet James at 36 is still carrying this team at the top of the Western Conference. He is shooting well on 3-pointers (39.8 percent) and at a career-high volume (6.8 per game). The Lakers are just a game back of the Utah Jazz and James is one of the MVP frontrunners.

He might be the frontrunner if it weren’t for Nikola Jokic, lighting the world on fire as one of the league’s best passers and scorers, all from the center position. He is putting up 27.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 8.5 assists per game, and has improved his defensive positioning from years past. If the Nuggets can win enough to push into the top couple of seeds Jokic will be in the MVP race to the end.

Kawhi Leonard is no longer pushing for MVP awards, resting his degenerative muscle injury in his quad and playing moderate minute totals to save himself for the postseason. That hasn’t stopped him from shredding teams when he does play, and the Clippers are +17 per 100 possessions when he is on the court. He is swiping 1.8 steals per game to go along with 26 points and a career-best 5.1 assists.