2018 NBA All-Star Game: 7 Possible Debuts
As the old-school All-Stars of the past decade move on to the last phases of their career or retiring, we see a wealth of relatively new-school talent making personal breakthroughs and improving their teams in ways we didn't see from them in the past.
The NBA's landscape sports a settled look with the right mix of older veterans who have been dominant for long periods of time, as well as younger talents looking to force their way into fan's imaginations with their ever-improving displays.
The 2017-18 NBA season has seen a number of breakout players making their mark on the league, but the seven players we have picked out here are on a whole other level to their competition and are performing at the best form of their careers.
Honourable Mentions: Clint Capela, Tobias Harris, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum
Let's take a look at the top 7 first-time selection candidates for the newly-tweaked All-Star game:
#7 Devin Booker
Stat-line: 24.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 4.2 apg, 0.9 spg, 0.3 bpg
If there was just one argument that could end the debate of whether Devin Booker does really belong in the league's elite realm of All-Stars, it came with his record-breaking 70-point outburst against the Boston Celtics last season, as he scored 58.3% of his team's total of 120 in a 10-point loss.
That game was the highest-scoring outing by an NBA player and Booker was only 20 years old during the time of that game. It elevated his ppg average by 2 per game, making his total improvement 8 ppg from his rookie season through his sophomore year.
Booker is no one-game wonder, though, as he continues to demonstrate through his third year in the league. His ppg average has now leaped up to 24.5, while he continues to improve as a facilitator, defender, and shotmaker. By all accounts, he is going to be an All-NBA scorer by the end of his career, and this season is the one in which he should make his first bow during the All-Star weekend festivities.