NBA All-Star voters did a good job this season

The ten starters may not be having the absolute best seasons in the NBA this season, but the correct players are there for the SF game

The fans, coaches, and players all voted on the members of the 2024 All-Star teams, and the end result is an ideal group of 10 starters. There may be some snubs, or choices to argue about, but for a game taking place at the home of the Golden State Warriors, the selections for the Western Conference are ideal, and the Eastern Conference went with wins over highlights.

The most important selection is that Steph Curry will be starting on his home court at the Chase Center. Is Curry definitively one of the top two guards in the Western Conference this season? Probably not. But is there anyone except Shai Gilgeous-Alexander that’s definitively better than him? You could argue for De’Aaron Fox or Anthony Edwards, or the injured Luka Doncic, but this is a league where Vince Carter was pressured into giving up his starting spot in 2003 to a 40-year-old Michel Jordan. Curry deserves the legacy start. Plus, he’s still one of the most entertaining players to watch in an All-Star Game.

Kevin Durant beat out Victor Wembanyama for the final frontcourt spot in the West, another spot you could consider a legacy berth. Still, he’s shooting over 50% and scoring 27.2 points per game, so it’s not like this is a disgrace. Durant also deserves to start in the home of the team where he won two titles and two Finals MVP awards. He may not have a strict hometown after playing for four different teams, but if Wemby really wanted this starting spot, maybe he should have blocked Curry’s shot in the gold medal game.

LeBron James will probably start the All-Star Game every year until he retires. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic are likely to go 1-2 in the MVP vote and their teams are really good, with the Oklahoma City Thunder better classified as a juggernaut.

In the Western Conference, Donovan Mitchell is the point guard on another juggernaut, while Jalen Brunson edged out the winner of the fan vote, LaMelo Ball. Ball certainly deserves to be an All-Star, scoring in bunches and turning Charlotte Hornets games into Harlem Globetrotters-styhle exhibitions of shooting and passing, but the media vote had him 7th due to his team’s miserable record.

It’s not Ball’s fault that his team had two starters go out with season-ending injuries, or that some of his primary offensive options are Josh Green and French rookie Tidjane Salaun. At the same time, Jalen Brunson has been awesome as well, and he’s doing it in games that actually matter beyond lottery placement.

The rest of the East features fringe MVP candidate Karl-Anthony Towns, perennial (and deserving) All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who’s general quite entertaining in these contests, especially when he plays with Steph.

Jayson Tatum both deserves a spot and gives someone for the Chase Center crowd to root against, though they might not have the heart to do it after the Boston Celtics delivered a 40-point beatdown in this building. Plus, Steve Kerr won’t be coaching, so Tatum should get plenty of minutes.

While being named a starter is a huge honor and gets each player a fancier introduction, this year there’s not really the same downside to being snubbed. The new format has the 24 All-Stars separate into teams of eight, meaning that there will actually be 15 players who end up starting the game. Expect Ball, Edwards, and Wembanyama to start, even if they’re not officially “starters.”

In terms of the draft, which will be conducted by TNT’s Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal, don’t rule out a conspiracy to put the Durant-James-Curry team together in a Team USA reunion. It won’t be from Barkley, who likely believes that a jump-shooting team can’t win an All-Star game, but O’Neal has certainly proved he’s not above rigging contests in the past.

Sadly, even the K-Pop vote couldn’t get Andrew Wiggins his second All-Star start. You did your best, Aespa!