Predicting the Complete NBA All-Star Rosters

by Julian Spivey & Preston Tolliver

Western Conference
selected by Julian Spivey

Picking the NBA rosters for the Western Conference is about as simple as it comes because the West is as stacked as ever, especially with the Eastern Conference’s best player of the last decade LeBron James coming over. The Western All-Star starters come off like an MVP ballot and picking the reserves isn’t that tough either because most of these guys are just snubbed from potential starting spots.
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Starters:

Backcourt: James Harden (Houston Rockets)
                     Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors)
 
If the NBA All Star Starters were revealed at the moment James Harden, the NBA’s reigning MVP and likely the front-runner to win it again this season, would not even be a starting player. Derrick Rose, who I don’t believe should be an All-Star would be. Rose is a great story having a revitalized year, but Harden not being a starter would be laughable. Harden is leading the NBA in scoring at 34.1 Points Per Game (PPG), which is five more points per game than the next closest player and his team is currently the fifth best in the West, whereas Rose’s Minnesota Timberwolves aren’t currently in the playoff hunt.

Stephen Curry has become a Western Conference starting All-Star mainstay at this point, and that shouldn’t change this season. Curry is leading the Warriors in scoring (just barely over Kevin Durant) and his 28.8 PPG is good enough for third in the NBA. Despite being on a team filled with All-Stars Curry is playing his way back into MVP contention this season.

Frontcourt: LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers) – CAPTAIN
                       Kevin Durant (Golden State Warriors)
                       Anthony Davis (New Orleans Pelicans)

My five picks for Western Conference All-Star starters just happen to be the top five in Points Per Game in the NBA this season with Anthony Davis second in the league at 28.9 PPG, Kevin Durant fourth in the league at 28.2 and LeBron James fifth in the league at 27.3.

James is my choice for captain in the West as the most senior player on the All-Star team and potentially still the best overall player in the league. LeBron has single-handedly made the Los Angeles Lakers relevant again, and even though he’s missed a few weeks due to injury has that team in playoff contention.

Davis continues to waste away on a bad New Orleans Pelicans team despite being one of the best overall players in the NBA. Many of us can’t wait to see him join a good team when his contract is up after next season.

Durant continues to be one of the most solid players in the league, but if the All-Star voting was finished at the moment would have to rely on being chosen as a reserve as the fans would apparently rather see new blood like 19-year old rookie Luka Doncic, who I couldn’t find room on my roster for, starting for the West. As things stand Paul George would currently be a starter over both Durant and Davis, as well, though he is more deserving than Doncic.

Reserves:

Backcourt: Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder)
                     Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers)
                     Klay Thompson (Golden State Warriors)

Russell Westbrook and Damian Lillard, who’s unfortunately been snubbed a couple of times in the last few years simply because 12 spots are not a lot for the number of star players in the conference, could easily be named starters if they just had the fan vote. Each should easily make the game for the West this year as both have their respective teams in the top half of the West standings. Westbrook is on pace to average a triple-double for the third consecutive year, something that had only been done in one season in the history of the NBA.

Klay Thompson was my 12th and final choice to make the All-Star game from the West. Thompson is one of three Golden State Warriors to be averaging 22 or more points per game this season. I could easily see Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz, Mike Conley of the Memphis Grizzlies or Jrue Holiday of the New Orleans Pelicans in this spot, but the Warriors are currently the second best team in the West and all of those other teams are on the outside looking in. This spot won’t matter anyway if Derrick Rose does indeed get voted into the game via the fans.

Frontcourt: Paul George (Oklahoma City Thunder)
                     Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets)
                     Tobias Harris (Los Angeles Clippers)
                     Karl-Anthony Towns (Minnesota Timberwolves)

Paul George pretty much shocked the NBA last offseason when he decided to stay with the OKC Thunder, despite almost everybody thinking him signing with the Lakers and joining LeBron was a done deal. George is having a bit of a rejuvenation with the Thunder averaging almost 27 points per game on the same team as Russ Westbrook. He’s currently a starter in the fan voting.

The Denver Nuggets have been perhaps the biggest surprise in the NBA this season with their current first place position in the Western Conference and their best player has been seven-foot big man Nikola Jokic, who has the fourth best Real Plus-Minus in the league behind James Harden, Anthony Davis and Paul George. Jokic averages a double-double per game for the Nuggets.

The surprise team of the year has been the Los Angeles Clippers, who are currently fifth in the West and the best team in the Staples Center. The Clippers best player this year has been forward Tobias Harris, who’s averaging a career-best 21 PPG and eight rebounds a game. This would be Harris’ first All-Star selection and of all my picks he’s the one I’d be most surprised to actually make the roster.

Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves gets my final frontcourt spot in a close decision over Dallas Mavericks rookie Luka Doncic, who currently would be a starter via the fan vote. Towns’ numbers are just a bit better overall than Doncic’s and their respective teams are about the same record-wise, so I’m giving him the slight edge.

I do wish the NBA would allow an extra roster spot in special circumstances so legendary platers like Dirk Nowitzki can make the All-Star game in their swan song seasons without taking a spot of a more deserving player. I know that fans would like the opportunity to see Nowitzki on a big stage one more time. 

Eastern Conference
selected by Preston Tolliver

Unlike the Western Conference, the early returns for All-Star voting are nearly perfect in regard to who should actually start on the team this year in the Eastern Conference, with the exception of Dwyane Wade, who received the obligatory retirement tour vote (more on that later). After that, the waters get a little murky: most reserves on the West team could, by all rights, be starters on that team; on the East, though, the reserves are set more firmly in their positions, with a pretty huge margin separating them from the starters.

Starters:

Backcourt: Kemba Walker (Charlotte Hornets)
                     Kyrie Irving (Boston Celtics)

Kemba Walker started the season by forcing his way into early MVP talks. In the first seven games of the season, he averaged 31.7 points per game, and though he’s tapered off a bit since (he now averages 25 points per game and 5.7 assists), he’s made it to the midpoint of the season with three 40-plus games, eight 30-plus game and a friggin 60-point game (which came in a loss to Philadelphia on Nov. 17) (But still, he’s the only player this season to break 60) (So that has to count for something, right?) (Right).

Though the Celtics have been underwhelming this year, Irving has been a steady leader on the court, averaging 22.7 points and 6.4 assists per game. I don’t know that he’s the best point guard in the conference this season, but he certainly has the potential for it (right now, he’s vying for that honor with Walker). When he plays to his fullest potential, though, he’s one of the top five players in the league and should be back in the MVP talks by the end of next season.

As of Jan. 10, Irving led the fan votes for starting guards, doubling the tally of Wade, who placed second.

Also, I have Irving listed as a conditional captain here, because if LeBron is chosen to captain the West, this would make for great drama – a teacher/student sort of story, that will either end with Kyrie becoming the teacher for a nice, heartwarming story, or the teacher paddling the student near to death (which, by the way, is still legal in Arkansas).

Frontcourt: Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks)
                     Kawhi Leonard (Toronto Raptors)
                     Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers)

As probably James Harden’s biggest obstacle to his second consecutive MVP, Giannis is a no-brainer. The Greek Freak averages a double-double with 26.7 points and 12.6 rebounds and has nearly singlehandedly carried a Bucks team from obscurity and intentionally-slippery courts to an Eastern Conference Champion contender.

Giannis is our second conditional captain, because, as I suspect, Kevin Durant will be named captain of the West (I imagine they’ll switch it up from last year, though Harden could get it as well), and I want to see two dudes with weird alien arms battle it out.

Leonard returned to his form from the good old days when he played for the San Antonio Spurs and liked it or liked it in as much as you could maybe from his deadpan facial expressions of yesteryear. He’s a likelihood for Defensive Player of the Year and as defense is more of a myth than a fundamental of basketball in the All-Star Game, he probably won’t be that fun to watch, but he’s earned his place on the starting roster regardless.

Embiid’s personality may distract from his on-court performance, but he has a stronger stat line than Giannis, averaging 26.9 points and 13.3 rebounds per game (Giannis does lead Embiid in assists, though). Embiid is currently placed third in fan voting for the front court, but it’s not just his celebrity on Twitter and Instagram that netted him more nearly three times as many votes as fourth-place Jayson Tatum – he’s a monster and will be fun to see make his return to the All-Star court.

Embiid is our third and final conditional co-captain (in the event that anyone other than LeBron or Durant is chosen to captain the West), only because I want to see him try to draft Rihanna seven times.

Reserves:

Backcourt: Kyle Lowry (Toronto Raptors)
Victor Oladipo (Indiana Pacers)
Ben Simmons (Philadelphia 76ers)
Dwyane Wade (Miami Heat)

With the arrival of Kawhi Leonard and the subsequent divorce of the East’s best backcourt, Kyle Lowry has been out of the spotlight this season. He’s averaging only 14 points this season (continuing a slow decline over the last few years) but has a conference-best 9.6 assists. He probably won’t flash too much on the All-Star court, but it’ll be nice to see him set up others to.

Since being traded to Indiana last season, Oladipo has established himself as the best two-guard in the East. He earned Most Improved Player last year and continues to improve with each game. You wouldn’t guess it looking at his stat line – he’s currently sitting at 19.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.2 assists – but he’s dragging a Pacers team that’s supposed to be tanking to home-court advantage in the playoffs (the team is seeded at the third spot in the conference, as of Jan. 14). And any player who drags a team that should be tanking to the playoffs – even if it’s to the chagrin of their owners – has to be a star.

Simmons deserves the honor for a lot of reasons: 1. He’s one of the best point guards in the league and his stock only continues to rise and there’s no telling how high his ceiling is; 2. He’s going to be really fun to watch in the game; 3. He has to put up with Joel Embiid (which is probably kind of fun) and Jimmy Butler (which is probably not fun), so we kind of owe him this.

Wade gets in on the Kobe Bryant rule, which officially states that any player who led their team to more than one championship (sorry, Dirk) is automatically entered into the All-Star games during their last couple of years in the league, even when they’re not in the top 12 best players in their conference (or in the top 12 players on their team). His inclusion on the team is more obligation than earned, and that’s okay. I don’t mind seeing him suit up for it one more time.

Frontcourt: Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics)
                     Blake Griffin (Detroit Pistons)
                     Nikola Vucevic (Orlando Magic)

As a Boston fan, I could write love poems about Jayson Tatum, the 20-year-old Duke standout with shoulders strong and wide enough to carry the Celtics’ championship hopes for the next 10 years. Tatum was forced to grow up fast last year with the absence of Gordon Hayward and, later in the season, Irving, not unlike a young boy whose parents were murdered in front of him outside a theater, who was then raised by a butler (in this case, Alfred Horford) who helped him to toughen up and learn the skills required to one day save all of Gotha…err, Boston. In any case, Tatum established himself as a star worthy to construct a dynasty around last season, and it’s time he’s given his rightful place in the All-Star Game.

Griffin has undergone a reinvention since being traded from the Clippers last season, reestablishing his stardom not only as a player who dunks with the power and velocity that you would expect from Godzilla, but also a reliable player wherever the Pistons need him, currently averaging a career-best 25.6 points, alongside 8.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists.

Vucevic is the dark horse of not just the Eastern Conference, but the entire NBA (seriously – I draft him late every year in my Fantasy league, and he puts up some of the best numbers every season). He’s averaging 20.1 points and 11.9 rebounds per game this season and is a bright spot in the depressing and perpetual tank-machine Orlando Magic. He’s one of the best centers in the NBA with absolutely none of the credit for it, and it’s time we give him his due (for at least two minutes on the court).