With 9 first-time All-Stars this year it’s easy to see how some players could be surprised by their absence from the roster. I thought this year’s picks were great in having the players that the fans wanted to see, but I’m only going to be talking about three players that I believe should have been selected to the roster.

Karl Anthony-Towns, (26.9 PPG, 10.7 RPG, 4.2 APG)
Towns has been playing phenomenal all season long with a consistent double-double each night along with a career high this year in points and assists. He’s been shooting 50% from the field and 40% from behind the arc with an impressive mix of highlights. KAT definitely deserved to be selected to the Western Conference reserves, but I think his team’s record (15-34) was the main reason for him being left out. All-Star picks Nikola Jokic and Rudy Gobert’s stats weren’t much better than Towns, but their impressive team records seemingly pushed them over the top.

Devin Booker, (27.1 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 6.4 APG)
To make a case for Devin Booker to be in the All-Star game, one must make a case against Brandon Ingram. Both the Pelicans and the Suns have a record of 20-30 and sit at the 11th and 12th seeds of the Western Conference. Booker and Ingram both lead their team in scoring and have had exciting highlights all season; however, Ingram’s stats are not much more impressive than Booker’s with 25.0 PPG, 6.3 RPG, and 4.3 APG. He’s averaging less than Booker in two major categories and has an identical team record, so you’ve got to respect the coach’s decision on this one and hope Booker can come back stronger next season.

Bradley Beal, (28.7 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 6.4 APG)
Beal is averaging a career high in points and assists but he hasn’t been able to translate these numbers into wins for the Wizards. Despite being a two-time All-Star and having a ridiculous highlight reel from the first half of the season Beal hasn’t been able to close out games against superior teams. His team sits at 10th in the Eastern Conference with a 17-32 record, so I wouldn’t expect them to be making a run for the postseason unless John Wall makes a return. Wall hasn’t played an NBA game since December of the 2017-18 season with knee injuries and since rupturing his achilles in February of last year. The timetable for his return is uncertain. The absence of Bradley Beal was definitely unjust, but let’s be serious, we’d all care a lot more if Wall were back in the picture.