NBA: The 25 best NBA players never to make an All-Star game

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Al Jefferson Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images /

The 25 best NBA players never to make an All-Star game — 21. Al Jefferson

In his 2019 book, “Sprawball” a basketball cartographer uses Al Jefferson as his metaphor for the NBA dinosaur, a player who has been legislated from relevance by rules and trends maximizing the 3-pointer and minimizing the post resident. The evidence is compelling, and it is true that there are relatively few players in the league today that are most at home operating on the block.

What this recognition of the current basketball climate ignores is that for years, Jefferson was post royalty, destroying defenders who tried to stop him from scoring down low. Jefferson hit just eight total 3-pointers across 915 career games. Instead, thriving down low with an array of pivots, back-downs and deft touch around the rim.

Jefferson averaged at least 16 points and nine rebounds per game in eight straight seasons from 2006-07 to 2013-14. He maintained this consistency despite bouncing around the league, playing for four different franchises during that run. In the 2013-14 NBA season he even earned a spot on the All-NBA team, a nod to his offensive excellence.

Closest Call: That aforementioned 2013-14 season is glaring with the absence of Al Jefferson, who put up strong numbers en route to the All-NBA nod. Even more surprising is his omission from the 2008-09 All-Star rosters. Jefferson became a part of the Minnesota Effect, where if you play basketball in Minnesota, it’s that-much-harder to earn awards despite strong play. Jefferson averaged 23.1 points and 11 rebounds per game that season but was not an All-Star. The only other player in the last 40 years to average those numbers and not be named an All-Star? Fellow Minnesota big man Karl-Anthony Towns, who since has made multiple All-Star rosters.