My 2023-24 NBA Western Conference All-Star Reserves

My 2023-24 NBA Western Conference All-Star Reserves

The 2024 NBA All-Star game is creeping ever closer, which means we’re at a fabled point in the NBA calendar: All-Star snub season. In a league where there are probably 40 and perhaps close to 50 players who deserve genuine All-Star consideration, it’s an impossibility to hold a game with just 24 of those players and get it 100 percent right. Yet, because I’m clearly a masochist, that’s what I’m going to try to do, starting with the Western Conference.

Last week I named my All-Star starters. If you’re interested in my Eastern nominees, they’re here. In the west whilst, I nailed the backcourt and one of the frontcourt positions, my selections of Kawhi Leonard and Anthony Davis were beaten out by Davis’ teammate LeBron James and Phoenix Sun Kevin Durant both of whom, given their fame, are not at all surprising selections as starters.

When selecting these reserves, I have no hard and fast rules. That said, there are some loose tiebreakers. The record is significant, though it’s unfair to punish someone for doing their damnedest to lift a flawed roster. Availability is important too; if Player A has performed slightly better than Player B, but in around half the appearances, Player B might just get the nod.

But let’s not sit around talking about rules any longer. Here are my selections for who most deserves to play in the All-Star game in Indianapolis, Ind., in February.

My Western Conference Starters:

B: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – Oklahoma City Thunder (2^nd appearance)

B: Luka Doncic – Dallas Mavericks (5^th appearance)

F: Kawhi Leonard – Los Angeles Lakers (6^th appearance, if selected)

F: Anthony Davis – Los Angeles Lakers (9^th appearance, if selected)

F: Nikola Jokic – Denver Nuggets (6^th appearance)

Backcourt Reserves

De’Aaron Fox – Sacramento Kings (2^nd appearance, if selected)

Stephen Curry – Golden State Warriors (10^th appearance, if selected)

No, the Kings haven’t been able to kick on from last season’s thirst-busting playoff appearance. Fox, though, has only gotten better. He’s averaging a career-high 27.5 points per game, highlighted by the 26-year-old fixing the most glaring flaw in his game: 3-point shooting. A career 32.9 percent shooter from beyond the arc coming into this season, Fox is connecting on 39.1 percent of his 8.1 3-point attempts per game (both career highs) this campaign. Fox remains an elite foul drawer, using his sheer speed to beat his man into the paint and has augmented that with a turnover rate that is under 10 percent for the first time in his professional life. Defensively, Fox is also putting forth his best effort in years.

Steph is aging like a fine nebbiolo, even as the rest of the Warriors’ core ages like Fruity Lexia left in the sun for too long. It’s not Curry’s fault that Klay Thompson can’t move east-west anymore, or that Kevon Looney can no longer protect the rim, that Andrew Wiggins may have had a visit from the Monstars or that Draymond Green has the impulse control of a teen with ADHD and a little too much sugar.

Curry is still doing Steph things, even as he hurtles towards his 36^th birthday. He’s still posting 27.3 points on 45/40/93 shooting splits and draining 4.7 treys a game. His true shooting percentage is right on his career average, as is his turnover rate; both are key figures in spotting the decline of a player. Steph, remarkably, is still arguably in his prime.

Frontcourt Reserves:

LeBron James – Los Angeles Lakers (20^th appearance)

Kevin Durant – Phoenix Suns (14^th appearance)

Rudy Gobert – Minnesota Timberwolves (4^th appearance, if selected)

I mentioned earlier that I have no hard and fast rules when it comes to All-Star selection, but there is one that comes awfully close to that threshold: If your team isn’t in the playoffs, you don’t earn two All-Star berths. Given Anthony Davis is one of my starters and the Lakers are currently 9^th in the West, we’re dangerously close to an omission that is at best clickbait and at worst may get me killed. James, though, is an anomaly. The rules – sometimes literally – don’t apply to him. At age 39, the man is still a nightly triple-double threat. He’s in.

Like James, there is little that is left to be said about Durant. As the healthiest of Phoenix’s newly assembled Big Three, having played 38 games of 45, Durant has really had to carry these Suns. Whilst he’s unlikely to carry on with his absurd 45.5 percent 3-point clip, the return of Devin Booker and Bradley Beal should allow Durant the space to operate in his preferred mid-range. This All-Star nod sees Durant tie Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, Jerry West and Dirk Nowitzki for fifth all-time.

Gobert is, unfortunately, a much-maligned figure but he is – at worst – the second-best defensive player of his era. After a down year adjusting to a totally new ecosystem in Minnesota, Gobert is back to his space-evaporating best this season and is perhaps the primary driver in the Wolves sitting atop their conference.

He is still an elite shot blocker and remains a singular driver in teams deliberately ignoring shots in the paint, just in case Gobert is nearby. He’s the favourite to take home a remarkable 4^th Defensive Player of the Year title this season. The 31-year-old is still not someone you can throw the rock to and expect a bucket but when the Wolves do decide to feed him, he’s doing just enough. Gobert is long, strong and down to get the friction on and in possession of a passable drop step to either side of his body.

Wildcards

Anthony Edwards – Minnesota Timberwolves (2^nd appearance, if selected)

Lauri Markkanen – Utah Jazz (2^nd appearance, if selected)

Let’s talk about the other driver of the Wolves ascension. For as good as Karl-Anthony Towns is, he’s shown that he’s best suited as a high-functioning second option. With Edwards maturing into a genuine star, the Wolves pecking order looks now far more natural. Without a doubt, Edwards still has a raft of rough edges that need smoothing: shot selection, some woeful passes and reckless defensive gambles. What he does do, however, can be overwhelming. His playmaking has improved, as has his defensive discipline. He remains a majestic athlete. His greatest improvement has been his willingness to take on the burden of being The Man. He’s a star right now and his ceiling is immense. Watching this young man grow is going to be an awful lot of fun.

My last Western Conference All-Star spot could well have gone to Devin Booker. I’ve no issue if you prefer Book but I’ve gone with Markkanen. I often wonder if Jazz head honcho Danny Ainge is thrilled to have picked up the Finn for the price that he did or if he laments Markkanen’s production as a hindrance to his grand tanking plans. Lauri Bird (so much better than The Finnisher) is the shining light in another surprising Jazz team. Markkanen is 7^th in the NBA in Offensive Estimated +/- and is such a malleable weapon that he can fit with the Jazz no matter what stars the draft and/or trade for along the way. He possesses an underrated bully ball game down low and as a 7-footer with a fast, high release, he sometimes looks like Klay Thompson after an encounter with a Zoltar machine.

Final cuts: Devin Booker – Phoenix Suns, Alperen Sengun – Houston Rockets

So there are your…well, my 2024 Western Conference NBA All-Stars. I’ll post my full Eastern Conference squad in the coming days.

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