The NBA All-Star Game starters were announced last week, and now we know who’ll be backing them up with the reserves. On Tuesday, the NBA officially announced the full participants for the 2018 All-Star game, and as expected their are a couple snubs.
Unlike the starters, who were voted in by fans, media, and players, the reserves were selected entirely by the NBA’s pool of head coaches, and here they are:
East Reserves: Bradley Beal, Al Horford, Kevin Love, Kyle Lowry, Victor Oladipo, Kristaps Porzingis, & John Wall.
West Reserves: LaMarcus Aldridge, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, Damian Lillard, Klay Thompson, Karl-Anthony Towns, & Russell Westbrook.
Of the list, several players are seeing their first All-Star game, including Oladipo, Porzingus, Beal, Embiid (starter), Lillard, & Karl-Anthony Towns. Meanwhile, the Warriors for the second year in a row have 4 players make the cut.
However with that said, there were some snubs this year as well, including Rockets guard Chris Paul & Thunder’s Paul George. In fact, Thunder guard Russell Westbrook had some strong words for the voting process for leaving his teammate Paul George out the game. "Unbelievable. I think it's just outrageous, in my opinion," Westbrook said,
Unlike year’s past, this year’s game will be under a new format where the top two leading vote getters from each league (East & West) will have a pool of players to pick from like a pick-up game. With Lebron & Curry serving as captains, the two will alternate picking players from EITHER league to fill their rosters.
While the draft itself is going down on Wednesday, the teams won’t be revealed until Thursday night on TNT’s NBA Tip-Off at 7 PM. Stay tuned.
The Western Conference @NBAAllStar Reserves Pool!#RussellWestbrook#DamianLillard#JimmyButler#KlayThompson#DraymondGreen#LaMarcusAldridge#KarlAnthonyTowns#NBAAllStar
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