“All-Star weekend ain't gonna feel the same”: Karl-Anthony Towns expresses disappointment over Rudy Gobert's omission
Rudy Gobert became perhaps the biggest of all surprising snubs from the All-Star selections this season. The Minnesota Timberwolves, being the top team in the West, have a fair representation in the All-Star game. However, Gobert being snubbed appears unfair to fans and so to his teammate.
Towns and his young star teammate Anthony Edwards were selected as the reserves for the All-Star game. Unfortunately, Gobert was not. In a recent IG post, his teammate Karl-Anthony Towns expressed his disappointment over Gobert being snubbed from the All-Star selection.
In his IG story post, Towns reposted what Gobert had posted and captioned it:
“All-Star weekend ain't gonna feel the same cause you ain’t there brotha. Real talk!”
Coaches for the best teams in the respective conferences are usually selected to coach the respective teams. Since the Timberwolves have the best record in the West, coach Chris Finch would be the head coach of the West.
LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo have been selected as captains of the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference, respectively. The All-Star game will be held on Feb. 18 in Indianapolis.
Why is snubbing Rudy Gobert raising eyebrows?
At worst, Rudy Gobert is the third-best player on the Timberwolves. His snub is raising eyebrows. In his 47 games, Gobert averages 13.4 ppg and 2.1 blocks per game and is shooting at 63.9%.
Gobert is also in the conversation for the Defensive Player of The Year Award. He anchors the team's entire defense. His snub can only make sense if it was the odd man out among three Timberwolves' players.
Towns has been shooting from the field and beyond the arc, averaging 22.7 ppg. Edwards has been anchoring most of his team's offense, and his popularity has skyrocketed this season.
It was not just KAT who was disappointed over Gobert’s snub from the All-Star selection. Edwards also expressed his frustration over Gobert not being selected. He wanted three selections since the Timberwolves are the top team in the West.
"Last year didn't Memphis have two players and they were No. 2, right?" Edwards said. "It's only right we should have one more because we are No. 1 in the West and they were No. 2 and had two."
Gobert's snub brings back the old debate over the criteria for the All-Star selection. Should an individual's season accolades be the criteria for selection? Or should it be their impact on the team combined with the team's overall performance?