Brook Lopez May Replace Rajon Rondo on NBA All-Star Team
By Josh Hill
On Sunday the Boston Celtics learned that point guard Rajon Rondo has torn his ACL and would be lost for the season. Beyond the immediate implications this has on the Celtics, a spot has just opened up on Eastern Conference All-Star team. There has already been speculation as to who will replace Rondo on the All-Star team, but an announcement hasn’t yet officially been made.
David Stern isn’t restricted to just selecting a guard to replace Rondo on the team, which means some of the players that got snubbed in both the initial vote and the selection of the reserves have had their All-Star hopes restored.
Right now, the favorite among the basketball community to replace Rondo is Brooklyn Nets center Brook Lopez. Many thought that Lopez had a pretty good shot at making the All-Star team as a reserve but was ultimately beat out by Chris Bosh, Tyson Chandler and Joakim Noah as big men to be added to the team.
Luol Deng also made the team, which suggests the East already has enough frontcourt players and that Stern might go in the direction of selecting Dwyane Wade, Ray Allen or another guard from a top team in the East.
A decision isn’t expected to take too long to be made, and obviously the NBA is going to take a bit of time to distance an announcement from the one today that Rondo has been lost for the season. There are plenty of questions that have suddenly become relevant thanks to this unfortunate injury, and while who will replace Rondo in the All-Star game isn’t a pressing one, it’s relevant nonetheless.