2018 NBA All-Star Game: 5 Biggest Snubs
Less than a week after the 2018 All-Star Game starters were announced, it was time for the reserves. And while most of them were as predicted, there were more than a few snubs from either conference. Unlike the starters, which are selected from a mix of fans, media, and player votes, the reserves are purely based on the votes by the league's 30 head coaches.
There is no rule written in stone regarding the coaches criteria for their voting, however, for our list of snubs, there are few benchmarks the players have to beat:
- The player's team has got to have a winning record or at least something in the vicinity of .500
- If their record isn't anywhere close to that, their individual numbers, irrespective of their team's record, has to be comparable to the league's best.
Keeping those parameters in mind, here are the five biggest snubs for the All-Star Game:
Note: There is going to be no mention of who these players should replace on the official list of All-Star for the Game. This a list of deserving players that missed out.
#5 Nikola Jokic
Season Averages (40 games): 16.2 points, 10.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.3 steals
Despite losing Paul Millsap to a wrist injury in the last week of November, the Denver Nuggets have been able to keep their head above water. Largely in part due to their team play but it's quite clear that they have been led by third-year center Nikola Jokic.
Jokic's name has gone under the radar and often hasn't even been mentioned in the players that are going to miss out. It's no surprise that he missed out given the stacked Western Conference but it's not just his double-double numbers that are worth noticing, it's also his box plus minus - 5.7 (9th best in the league).
The Nuggets are just above .500 with a record of 24-23, good for the eight seed in the Conference and Jokic's numbers too aren't something you can ignore.