Some of the NBA’s brightest stars will miss reportedly the All-Star Game in Utah due to injuries.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski has reported that Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry is out through the All-Star break with a leg injury and that Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant will be out with an MCL sprain that has kept him out since Jan. 9.
Meanwhile, New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson, who has been out since Jan. 3, is out through the All-Star break with a hamstring injury, ESPN’s Andrew Lopez reported.
All three players were voted All-Star Game starters — Curry and Williamson in the Western Conference and Durant in the Eastern Conference.
That means that the All-Star coaches — Denver’s Michael Malone in the West and Boston’s Joe Mazzulla in the East — will upgrade a player from the All-Star reserves to an All-Star starter and NBA commissioner Adam Silver will name a replacement for the reserve that’s promoted to a starter.
Replacements don’t have to be the same position as the injured player.
Complicating things is Kyrie Irving’s trade from Brooklyn to Dallas and Durant’s trade from Brooklyn to Phoenix this week.
Will Irving be a Western Conference starter, taking Williamson or Curry’s starting spot in the Western Conference and freeing up another starting — and reserve — spot in the Eastern Conference?
Will Durant’s injury replacement come from the Western Conference or the Eastern Conference?
That remains to be seen.
Here are three players from the Western Conference and three players from the Eastern Conference who should be considered replacements for the All-Star Game.
Western Conference
De’Aaron Fox, guard, Sacramento Kings
The Kings have a good chance to have two All-Star selections for the first time since 2003-04, when Brad Miller and Peja Stojakovic were selected.
Fox was considered one of the major snubs from the Western Conference when he didn’t make the team earlier in February.
Fox leads the Kings, averaging 24.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 6.2 assists as part of the one-two punch with Domantas Sabonis, who was named an All-Star reserve.
The Kings are currently in third place in the Western Conference, trying to make the playoffs for the first time since 2006 and end the longest current playoff appearance drought in North American sports.
Anthony Davis, forward, Los Angeles Lakers
Davis was likely passed over as an All-Star reserve because he has only played 31 of the Lakers 55 games, but when he does play, he is putting up All-Star numbers.
Davis is averaging 26.7 points and 11.9 rebounds per game and has 11 30-plus-point performances this season.
Anthony Edwards, guard, Minnesota Timberwolves
Edwards is putting up scoring numbers similar to Utah’s Lauri Markkanen, who was selected as an All-Star reserve.
The third-year guard has started all of Minnesota’s 58 games in an era when stars routinely sit out for various reasons.
He’s scoring 24.6 points per game and is also averaging 6 rebounds and 4.5 blocks.
Eastern Conference
Pascal Siakam, forward, Toronto Raptors
Siakam is scoring 24.7 points per game, along with 7.9 rebounds and 6.2 assists.
He leads the Raptors in points and rebounds and is second in assists per game on the team.
Per Raptors reporter Josh Lewenberg, “Assuming he maintains his current pace, Pascal Siakam would be the first player in NBA history to average at least 25 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists and not make the All-Star Game.”
James Harden, guard, Philadelphia 76ers
Harden has played 36 games this season, missing time with injuries, but has been a big reason why the 76ers are in third place in the Eastern Conference.
He’s averaging 21 points, 10.9 assists and 6.4 rebounds, leading Philadelphia in assists per game and ranking second in the team in points per game.
Harden felt like he was snubbed from the All-Star game, posting “the disrespect” on his Instagram story.
Jalen Brunson, guard, New York Knicks
Brunson has been New York’s premier player since signing last offseason, and he has New York in seventh place in an Eastern Conference that may be better than the West this season.
Brunson is averaging 23.2 points, 6.2 assists and 3.5 rebounds.
If selected as a replacement, he would join teammate Julius Randle in the All-Star Game in Salt Lake City.