The NBA season is in full swing and were at the midway point of the season. Which means the NBA All-Star game is near. All-Star game will be held on February 19th in New Orleans. The Starters were announced Thursday on TNT and there was a big surprise to the starting roster.
EAST
Kyrie Irving (Cleveland Cavaliers)
DeMar DeRozan (Toronto Raptors)
LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers)
Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks)
Jimmy Butler (Chicago Bulls)
WEST
Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors)
James Harden (Houston Rockets)
Kevin Durant (Golden State Warriors)
Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio Spurs)
Anthony Davis (New Orleans Pelicans)
Now with the numbers these guys are putting up you would think that the starting lineups are good. But if you call yourself a basketball fan at all then you will agree with me that Russel Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder should be starting in this year All-Star game.
The numbers Westbrook is putting up speak for themselves. He is averaging 30.6 PPG (Points per game), 10.6 RPG (Rebounds per game), and 10.4 APG (Assist per game). He is getting a triple double on a nightly basis and is on pace to average a triple double through an entire season. The last basketball player to record such numbers through an entire season was hall of famer Oscar Robertson of the Cincinnati Royals back in 1962. Robertson averaged 30.8 PPG, 12.5 RPG, and 11.4 APG in his historic season. This is mind blowing because how can someone who is having an historic season like this and had more than 200,000 fan votes than Curry not be a starter? The fan voting and stats are not even the worst of it. Would you believe me if I told that Westbrook has been top 2 in the MVP voting all season long? I'm not sure but I guarantee you that this will be first time that this happens. Now some will argue that Stephen Curry is having great season as well. Which he is i'm not taking that away from him but to sit here and think he is having a better season than Westbrook is disrespectful in my opinion. Westbrook will go down as the biggest All-star snub of all-time. Yes he is going to play in the game but to not start him is basically snubbing his greatness this season. League made the same mistake last season with Deandre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers who later made the All-NBA first Team. League continues to make the same mistakes during the All-Star selection process. The League honestly needs to address it with the NBA regular season being called "boring" due to the dominance of the Golden state Warriors. Fans look forward to All-Star game and yet they some how ruin it with starting selections like this. NBA will look foolish if Westbrook pulls off the triple double season.
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