By Angel Rivera 
It is almost that time for one of the most exciting weekends for basketball fans around the world.
The best of the best compete in all star weekend for different competitions, but this year’s format
for the all-star game seems to be new and I’m very excited to see this. 4 teams, 8 players on
each, to determine who wins the all star game. This is obviously formatted to enforce players to
try in the game and now treat it like shootaround. For the league, ratings are the highest priority
right now so choosing this style for the game is very understandable. There’s new faces this
year, as well as familiar foes who have kept their consistency going such as players like LeBron
James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry.
When the all stars for this year were announced, a lot of mixed reactions were shown and the
word “snub” became word of the year (especially for Trae Young). I actually wanted to give my
thoughts on who I felt deserved to be an all star and who I thought shouldn’t have made it. First
things first let’s introduce the teams as if I was in the arena to do so. For Team Shaq we have
the “OG’s”: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Jaylen Brown, James Harden, Kyrie
Irving, Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum, and Anthony Davis (who was replaced by Kyrie due to
injury). Next up we have the International squad or the “Global Stars”: Nikola Jokic, Shai
Gilgeous-Alexander, Donovan Mitchell, Alperen Sengun, Pascal Siakam, Victor Wembanyama,
Karl-Anthony Towns, Trae Young and Giannis Antetokounpmo (replaced by Trae Young due to
injury. Last and certainly least if we go off age (not talent), we have the new school crew known
as the “Young Bucks” : Jalen Brunson, Cade Cunningham, Tyler Herro, Jalen Williams, Anthony
Edwards, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jaren Jackson Jr.
These 3 teams divide all the all stars, the 4th team is going to be the winner of the rising stars
game who won friday night: Candices Rising Stars. These teams were clearly drafted on
purpose beforehand, but who’s to complain when the teams look very cool and we get to see
our favorite players on the same team. For the most part I agree with every all star selection,
given that everyone selected has been an important part to their team while balling out amongst
the rest. However there were a few names I was surprised didn’t make it. On the East side we
have Lamelo Ball and Trae Young. Now I know Trae is an all star now, but if it weren’t for an
injury, he wouldn’t have made it. It was very close to call and there’s just so much talent at the
guard spot in the East. If it were me personally, I would’ve selected Trae Young but not Lamelo
Ball before Tyler Herro and I’m a big Heat fan. Tyler has been going crazy this year with great
efficiency and improved scoring, along with his playmaking abilities. Both Young and Ball
average more points and assists than Herro, but for Lamelo, it’s on a bad team where his usage
is so high that his numbers are just going to be that high. Talent wise you can argue Lamelo is
better, but this year Tyler took that leap and he’s been just as good as Lamelo. In Trae Young’s
case, he’s the league’s assist leader, while also averaging 24 points a game, the league’s most
pure point guard right now. He’s basically the maestro behind Atlanta’s offense and it’s behind
nothing but criminal the amount of times he’s been snubbed for the all star game. He’s proved
his worth as he’s on an absolute tear this month even though it’s early, he just came off a game
with 38 points and 19 ASSISTS! Come on there’s not even 5 guys who can pass and score as
well as Trae in the league right now. The rest of the East all stars were pretty spot on, there
were injuries so the likes of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner weren’t going to make it.
Over on the wild wild west, there’s a few guys who come to mind, one who I can argue is the
best shooting guard in the league. Look no further than Devin Booker. When I saw him get
snubbed at first it didn’t really strike me too much but I still questioned it. If it were up to me I
wouldn’t have picked Curry but the game is in the Bay Area, why on earth would Curry not be in
the game. But seeing KYRIE replace Anthony Davis instead of Booker just didn’t make sense.
Booker has put up plenty of big scoring games while also going on a recent stretch of brilliance.
But alright fine he didn’t make it, the other person who could’ve made it was Domantas Sabonis.
Between Jaren Jackson, Alperen Sengun and Sabonis it’s really a toss up between them. Each
big has their own sheer dominance going on right now so I can’t really disagree with the
selections.
With the playing fields being set, there’s some guys I wanna see become all stars in the future.
Jalen Green is one of my favorite young players currently and he has it all. Currently playing the
best basketball of his career is really someone I feel will really take off post break and it will
continue into next season. Next guy is someone who’s currently a rookie now but I see tons of
potential, Stephon Castle. He’s one of the best rookies this year and he’s got it ALL. He’s had a
great year and he also has the “point god” Chris Paul to mentor him and De’aaron Fox. Last guy
I would love to see in the game for his swagger and on court ability: Jordan Poole. Poole has
had a great bounce back season this year and his game is just flat out entertaining. It doesn’t
take Stevie Wonder to notice how flashy he plays, it makes the game look even cooler. The
Wizards are bad currently but their future will eventually look brighter with all the nice young
talent they have.
So for Sunday the first matchup will be Shaq’s OG’s vs Candice’s Rising Stars. What a fitting
first game story, some players on Team C weren’t even walking when Lebron was in the league.
To see this game happen gives the players that competitive spirit to actually happen because it
would be a shame if these young guys just come to San Francisco and just beat the all stars.
Hopefully Amen Thompson gets a nasty block on someone so I can brag about it to my friends.
The other game will be Kenny’s Young Stars vs Chucks Global Stars. I’m actually picking
Kenny’s team to win it all. They have great young talent and young lungs to keep up for the 2
games that would be needed to win it all. As long as I get to see great basketball and not a
snooze fest then I’ll be content. If we’re going to see warmups out there, it’s better to just hold a
3 man weave drill for the crowd, nobody wants to see that. I’m super thrilled for these games,
just imagine Lebron has the ball to win the game, he drives in for the layup and BOOM Amen
Thompson from out of the shadows blocks it and they score to win. That would be electric but
what are the odds? Hopefully the team I picked to win, Team Kenny, ends up winning or else I’ll
just be viewed as a moron with predictions.
Joel Perez