James Harden’s ten-straight All-Star Game run finally comes to an end, as the Philadelphia star was snubbed off the 72nd Annual edition coming this month of February.
With just 24 slots available, there are bound to be some stars that get left behind, but leaving out the player who’s currently standing at the No.7 spot for the Kia MVP Ladder is just plain strange. The internet has gone wild trying to solve the mystery over why he wasn’t chosen.
As for Harden, he briefly explained his feelings with a couple of words, as it you can read below:
James Harden’s IG Story. pic.twitter.com/duddPSurLN
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) February 3, 2023
And no, he isn’t just racing the MVP Ladder this year, he also possess the league’s best assist average with 11 per game. However, Harden’s assists record isn’t official, as he’s not listed among the highest because he’s only played 56.5% of the Sixers’ contests (34). For a player to be eligible for the stat leaders list, they must have played at least 70% of matches.
To that crazy stat, we can add we wasn’t selected to be a part of Salt Lake City’s celebration despite averaging 21.4 points and 6.4 rebounds.
The Philadelphia camp are starting to believe this is some kind of persecution against them, as Harden’s star teammate, Joel Embiid, wasn’t too happy that he wasn’t named to the starter’s list either. The French big man isn’t just January’s Player of the Month, or No.2 on the league’s MVP race, but he also leads the NBA in points per game with 33.5.
Y’all got some explaining to do @NBA
— Joel “Troel” Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) February 3, 2023
Philly’s big man was finally announced yesterday as a reserve, while Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nets’ star Kevin Durant are the starting centers for the Eastern Conference.
In Harden’s case, one of the guards that made it over him was Tyrese Haliburton from Indiana, who is the official assists leader in the league with 10.2 average per game. As for the second guard, Bucks’ Jrue Holiday was also named to the reserves as he possesses and average of 19.4 points, 7.2 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game.
Four players were selected to the All-Star Game for the first time
As of ever year, the All-Star weekend is a time to showcase your talent in front of fans from every corner of the NBA, as it is a great opporunity for newcomers to make a name for themselves. This year in Salt Lake City, four players were named for the team’s reserves for the first time.
We are talking about Oklahoma City’s star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, assist-leader Tyrese Haliburton from Indiana, Utah’s most improved player Lauri Markkan and Memphis’ Jarren Jackson Jr., who will make their first appearance. Some of the biggest potential debuts who didn’t make the list were Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox, Timberwolves Anthony Edwards, and Miami Heat’s Tyler Herro.
As for Jalen Brunson’s snub, former NBA player Charles Barkley had plenty to say about it. “I’m kinda shocked Brunson didn’t make it. This is one of the best free agent signings in a long time, I am not saying take anybody off, but I am saying Jalen deserved to make this team,” as it’s been nearly 30 years since a New York point guard made the annual selection.
The All-Star Game will be held in Utah on February 19th.
