NBA All-Star Starter Snubs: Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers
What more can be said about the downright game-breaking, jaw-dropping mastery of Damian Lillard‘s game. Lillard, without the play of C.J. McCollum due to a left foot injury, has put the Portland Trail Blazers on his shoulders and stormed to the 4th spot in the Western Conference, good for the 5th-highest win-percentage league-wide (.643%).
The Blazers franchise player averages 27.8 points, 7.7 assists, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game, on 45/38/93 splits, not to mention his five double-doubles to go along with 14 30-point games, and three 40-point games.
If the numbers and win percentage don’t jump out to you as valid reasons for Lillard’s All-Star Starter candidacy, the eye test vouches for him even more. The gravity that Lillard commands on the offensive end combined with his tendency to hit shots from well beyond the 3-point arc should alone be enough to place him on the starting 5. Yet he has stiff competition.
Stephen Curry is putting on a season for the ages, his numbers on the year rivaling those of his MVP campaigns in 2015 and 2016. His lethal 42 percent shooting on nearly 12 3-point attempts per game, combined with the focus of Golden State’s fanbase fueling his voting numbers, makes him a guarantee.
Mavericks boy-wonder Luka Doncic in his third season has also put together a formidable display thus far. While his scoring efficiency fails to match that of his competition, posting 48/34/80 shooting splits, Doncic’s production encompasses far more than shooting splits, boasting averages of 29.1 points, 8.6 rebounds, 9.4 assists per game.
Doncic has and will continue to show off the versatility that he possesses this season, and with his role of franchise-player set in stone, his spot is rightly earned.