NBA All-Star Game 2017: Eastern, Western Conference Rosters and Players to Watch
All-Star Games are inherently bad. Players who participate usually spend their time trying to avoid injury, doing largely bare-minimum work and, in the case of football, ducking out of the festivities entirely.
The NBA All-Star Game is successful, because it embraces the spectacle. The first 40-45 minutes of the game is an all-out barrage of threes, dunks, crazy shot attempts and the occasional cool moment. Following Saturday's prime-time thriller in Oklahoma City, Basketball Twitter will be waiting with bated breath for the moment Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook share the floor again as teammates.
Provided, of course, Steve Kerr is a fun human and allows this to happen. (He is, and he will.)
We have (knock on wood) also been granted a reprieve from the injury bug this year. Every player selected from both teams appears to be in line to play. Perhaps the only thing fortunate about Joel Embiid not being picked as an All-Star is the fact we won't have to be disappointed about him being too hurt to play.
With that in mind, let's take a look at who will actually be making the trip to New Orleans and highlight a couple players to watch from both rosters.
Eastern Conference
| BC | Kyrie Irving | Cleveland Cavaliers | 4th |
| BC | DeMar DeRozan | Toronto Raptors | 3rd |
| FC | LeBron James | Cleveland Cavaliers | 13th |
| FC | Giannis Antetokounmpo | Milwaukee Bucks | 1st |
| FC | Jimmy Butler | Chicago Bulls | 3rd |
| BC | John Wall | Washington Wizards | 4th |
| BC | Isaiah Thomas | Boston Celtics | 2nd |
| BC | Kyle Lowry | Toronto Raptors | 3rd |
| BC | Kemba Walker | Charlotte Hornets | 1st |
| FC | Paul George | Indiana Pacers | 4th |
| FC | Kevin Love | Cleveland Cavaliers | 4th |
| FC | Paul Millsap | Atlanta Hawks | 4th |
F Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
Three years and one month ago, Giannis Antetokounmpo sent this tweet:
Look at that tweet. Look. At. It. It's a marvel of innocence. If every morning we were required to look at that tweet and recite it—sort of like the pledge of allegiance in school—all of our country's sadness and strife would fall away in an instant.
Now, our smoothie-loving baby boy of Basketball Twitter is all grown up. And he's a monster in the best possible way. Antetokounmpo has become an excellent all-around player, better in his fourth season than anyone could have reasonably expected he'd ever be. He has taken the form of dominance we saw in grainy, Greek footage prior to the 2013 draft and translated it to the NBA level, all with an infectious, wide-eyed disposition.
Antetokounmpo heads into Monday's game against the Detroit Pistons averaging 23.5 points, 8.7 rebounds and 5.5 assists while adding 2.0 blocks and 1.7 steals a night on the defensive end.
The list of players who have averaged those numbers over a full season, according to Basketball-Reference: Giannis Antetokounmpo. That's it. That's the list. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the only player who has even averaged similar numbers over a full year.
"I approach the game like I’m always chasing something," Antetokounmpo told Paul Coro of the Los Angeles Times. "It’s the way I grew up. We always had to chase something. Some people grew up having fun and playing basketball. Other people play basketball just to survive and leave to chase something."
I can see this going one of two ways: One is Giannis being overwhelmed by the other notable names in the field and having a quiet outing. First-time All-Stars rarely shine. The other scenario is that this becomes Giannis' takeover weekend, and he ascends to true superstardom.
F LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
If you hadn't noticed, LeBron entered the "Grumpy Old Man" stage of his career this season. Perhaps emboldened by the fact that the Golden State Warriors blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals to his Cleveland Cavaliers, James is done with everyone's...umm, I can't think of a PG way to put it, so let's just give examples:
- LeBron has called a reporter "trash" this season for floating the idea that he was pushing the Cavs to trade Kevin Love for Carmelo Anthony.
- LeBron went on an expletive-laden tirade after a January loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, publicly pressuring the front office to add talent.
- LeBron called Hall of Famer Charles Barkley a "hater" when the TNT analyst criticized him for asking for talent (h/t Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com)
- LeBron even went full old man by complaining about changes to the NBA's app. (The NBA made alterations within days of his tweet.)
Nowhere is James' advancing age more apparent than the roster list for this year's All-Star Game. James will be making his 13th appearance. No one else on the East has more than four appearances. LeBron literally has more than three times the amount of All-Star selections as anyone else on his team.
Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony, best friends and longstanding members of the Banana Boat Crew, were not selected this season. Neither was Chris Paul, though he likely would have been if it weren't for injury.
For some reason, I get the sense that LeBron will want to prove his dominance again on the All-Star stage. It wouldn't be a surprise if he walked away with one last All-Star MVP here just to prove a point. And to keep these dang kids off his lawn.
Western Conference
| BC | Stephen Curry | Golden State Warriors | 4th |
| BC | James Harden | Houston Rockets | 5th |
| FC | Kevin Durant | Golden State Warriors | 8th |
| FC | Kawhi Leonard | San Antonio Spurs | 2nd |
| FC | Anthony Davis | New Orleans Pelicans | 4th |
| BC | Russell Westbrook | Oklahoma City Thunder | 6th |
| BC | Klay Thompson | Golden State Warriors | 3rd |
| FC | Gordon Hayward | Utah Jazz | 1st |
| FC | DeMarcus Cousins | Sacramento Kings | 3rd |
| FC | DeAndre Jordan | Los Angeles Clippers | 1st |
| FC | Marc Gasol | Memphis Grizzlies | 3rd |
| FC | Draymond Green | Golden State Warriors | 2nd |
G Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder
Westbrook has 26 triple-doubles this season. The rest of the NBA has 40. Westbrook is the only player in NBA history to average a triple-double this late into the season since Oscar Robertson did his full-season thing in 1961-1962. Westbrook has the Thunder at 31-24, just three games out of the No. 4 seed, despite losing Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka this offseason.
His season is the most marvelous bit of (necessary) individual hubris since Kobe Bryant dropped 35 a night on fools more than a decade ago.
Russell Westbrook is, somehow, not starting in the 2017 NBA All-Star Game. That is the fault of the fans, who had him behind Stephen Curry and James Harden during the voting process. Westbrook was first on both the players and media portions of the ballot; the tiebreaker goes to the fans.
"It is what it is. It's the nature of the business, the game," Westbrook told reporters. "Just play. I don't play for All-Star nods or All-Star bids. I play to win championships, and every night I compete at a high level, and you know, it'll work out. Just continue doing what I'm doing, and you know, play the game the right way, and everything else will work out."
It takes about 0.8 seconds of watching Westbrook play basketball this season to know there is a different edge to his game. He knows the big stage. He relishes in big moments and perceived slights. Westbrook scored 47 points in Durant's return to Oklahoma City on Saturday, and while the Thunder lost, you could tell he relished their one-on-one matchup.
You think this dude is going to take being a reserve in the All-Star game during the best season of his life lightly? Nah. Not a chance. Not even for a second. We're going to see vintage Russ here, and it's going to be glorious.
Oh, and might I add he's coming off back-to-back All-Star MVPs.
F Kevin Durant, Golden State Warriors
Durant has been the overarching focus of this NBA season. His move to Golden State shifted the entire power dynamics of the league. After last year's Finals, it appeared anything could happen; halfway into Durant's Warriors tenure, and it's hard to see any other team winning the championship.
For all the credit Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green deserve, Durant is the best player on this team. He's shooting a career-high 53.5 percent from the field, grabbing a career-high 8.4 rebounds and continues to be underrated with his development into a good defender. The Warriors lead the NBA in defensive efficiency, and that's not an accident, per NBA.com.
That said, it's all about the Westbrook dynamic.
Anyone who saw them barking at each other Saturday night will be salivating to see them share the floor. Will they freeze each other out? Will they get a reunion tour where they tear things up? Will Kerr do the ultimate troll move and put Westbrook on the floor with the four Warriors All-Stars? Will I ever stop speaking in rhetorical questions?
Stay tuned to find out!
F Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs
We might get to see him smile. Once. It'll be a half-smile/smirk where you're not sure if it's an entire smile, but it'll be there. Don't miss it. You'll feel like you missed the lunar eclipse.
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