Holders of the NBA All-Star 2024-25 were announced on Thursday, and these were predictable selections with Stephen Curry, LeBron James and Kevin Durant-the oldest of the old guard-all obtaining the green light in the western conference .
The East was an easier decision, apart from the Lamelo Ball dilemma. The global voting pool was right by rewarding Jalen Brunson and Donovan Mitchell with the departure places in the rear area while leaving Ball, which won the most votes of fans among the eastern guards, fight for a place reserve. Here are the full starting training courses, determined by 50 % of fans’ votes and 25 % each of the current media and players:
Before going further, let us recall that these designations of “starter” have no practical utility given the change of all-star format this year, which will divide the 24 All-Stars into three eight teams (the winner of Rising Rising Star game with the fourth team) for a BRACKETED TOURNAMENT or in a way.
It seems to be a stupid idea, but the NBA is desperately seeking to arouse all kinds of competition between the players to at least make the match (s) all-star (s). We will see if it works. But that’s another story. What we are talking about is the appointment of these holders to recognize the 10 players – with the warning of two guards/three front zones, of course – who know the best seasons.
With this in mind, the voters missed some highly publicized marks by appointing Curry, James and during as a holder against Anthony Edwards and Victor Wembanyama, who both deserved the distinction of holder. As indicated, two guards must be appointed to each conference, which makes the first of these debates easier:
Edwards should be due to curry
Yes, I understand that the game takes place in San Francisco, so we all understand the concept and, to a certain extent, the validity of a nod to the work of a lifetime. Nor is it as if Curry did not know a good season. He is. He scores an average of 22 points per match with 40 % 3 -point shots without any other legitimate threat occupied the attention of the defense.
He is at the limit of the criminal that the warriors rely as much on Curry at this stage of his career, all to be at best a play-in team, rather than pressing the trigger of an exchange to bring him The help of which he is certainly still capable. to make good use.
However, Edwards is experiencing a better season. To start, Edwards marks much more (26.2 ppg at 22.6). Secondly, Edwards leads the league with 184 3 -point baskets that came into play Thursday, with Curry at more than 30 points with 151; They are practically identical from one match to another, and Edwards actually makes them at a significantly higher pace (42.5 % to 40.7 %).
Holders of the NBA All-Star Game 2025: LeBron James appointed to the 21st All-Star Game, Victor Wembanyama Rate Le Cut
Sam Quinn
Not to mention the defensive gap between Curry and Edwards, who obviously has more weight in both directions. All the advanced measures promote Curry, which, once again, is experiencing another excellent season even if the statistics of total countdown do not really jump into the eyes. But Edwards is embarrassed by many of the same constraints that Curry is confronted with the Warriors, who have in fact a better spacing than the Wolves. Edwards was forced to bomb from 3 alongside Julius Randle, poorly adapted, that the defenses do not respect beyond the arc.
And yet he cashes them – once again – at a rate higher that the curry. The Wolves have a better assessment than the Warriors, and Edwards has not yet missed a single match, having played nine times more than Curry on Thursday. All this is added to Edwards.
It was a difficult ascent for Edwards, fifth in the vote of the fans, to exceed Curry, who was second behind Gilgeous-Alexander among the Western guards in the vote of the fans, which represents 50 % of the starting equation. That said, the media and the players also voted Curry rather than Edwards, and they were wrong.
Edwards finished third in both cases, so they have not missed the target. But they still missed it. The fans are really to blame here because they dug the gap that Edwards had to fill too much, but he deserved the voting of players and the media as at least a nod to the fact that he is experiencing a better season that curry.
Wemby was also snubbed
Nikola Jokic was a lock for one of the three places in the west area, which left four viable candidates for the last two places: LeBron, Anthony Davis, Durant and Wembanyama. As indicated, LeBron and Durant were both selected. They both know very good seasons, but not as good as Wembanyama, which has 12 advances in advance on the Spurs compared to last year – the second best league in the year on the other Behind Detroit.
LeBron, at 40, was one of the two players with an average of at least 23 points, nine assists and seven rebounds to go into play on Thursday, the other being Jokic, so let’s not be far away by minimizing its value.
The same goes for during, which displays an average of 27 points, six rebounds and four assists with typically elite efficiency. But the slight offensive advantage that during, or LeBron, moreover, holds on Wembanyama is not important enough to cover the huge defensive advantage of Wembanyama.
In the process of becoming the 10th player in history to block four shots per game, and only the fifth to do it with an average of at least 20 points and 10 rebounds, Wembanyama is the big favorite of the Dpoy because he Already imposed as the best player in the League. Defensive player struck with a significant margin.
The dominant release of Victor Wembanyama in Paris should be the start of a new annual NBA tradition
Sam Quinn
It should also be noted that Wembanyama has played more matches than during (a relatively negligible 35 to 33, but still) and displays similar figures with almost three minutes less per night. Every 36 minutes, Wembanyama records points and passes almost identical to during everything by giving it back by far rebounds, and marks and bounces a better clip than LeBron.
So what place we should have taken? I would say during, only because Phoenix was the most disappointing team among the three involved and because James made his 20th consecutive departure to the All-Star; There is no need to interrupt this sequence when it still plays at such a high level. In addition, fans voted LeBron before, so Wemby had a better chance of exceeding during.
As for who is responsible for the Wemby Camouflet, it is above all the fans, who voted LeBron second and during the third. This placed Wembanyama behind the eighth ball, and the players sealed his fate by voting LeBron and during for second place, placing Wemby fourth. The media voted Wembanyama in second position, which was the right decision, but not enough to reach the right result.