With the 2021 NBA All-Star Game set to take next place in Atlanta, the reserves for the highly anticipated event was announced on Tuesday.
Eastern Conference Reserves:
The Eastern Conference starters are Kyrie Irving, Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid.
Randle, LaVine and Brown are all first-time All-Stars. Randle got the nod after posting career-highs across the board and putting up numbers that rival some of the league’s best players, and more importantly, he has the New York Knicks in the playoff conversation for the first time in a long time!
Trae Young and Jimmy Butler are two guys many people penciled in as All-Stars well before the season started, and guys like Khris Middleton, Domantas Sabonis, Tobias Harris and Bam Adebayo all had strong cases to be playing in this game as well. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough spots for all of them.
Western Conference Reserves:
The Western Conference starters are Stephen Curry, Luka Doncic, Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James and Nikola Jokic.
This will be the first All-Star Game for Williamson, as most guys that made it in the West are well-established stars whereas in the East you had significantly more newcomers.
Devin Booker, Ja Morant and Brandon Ingram are noticeably off the roster, but with Paul continuing his strong point guard playing and helping lead the Phoenix Suns to a potential playoff spot for the first time since 2010, and Williamson living up to the hype in his second season in the league, it became too hard to leave both of those guys off the roster. Those three guys should have plenty of All-Star Game opportunities in the future though.
