James Harden, DeMarcus Cousins notable NBA All-Star snubs

The starting lineups for the 2015 NBA All-Star Game, to be played Feb. 15 at Madison Square Garden, have been announced and there are some notable omissions.

The leading scorer in the NBA? Grab some pine. In the top five in scoring and rebounding? There’s a nice chair for you right over there, pal.

The NBA announced the starters for the Eastern and Western conference all-star teams on Thursday night and there are at least a couple of players who would seem to have a legitimate beef at not getting nearly enough love from the fans.

NBA scoring leader James Harden of the Houston Rockets—considered the front-runner for the Most Valuable Player award at this point in the season—missed the cut in the Western Conference backcourt, finishing a little more than 83,000 votes behind 242-year-old guard Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers.

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Bryant, who for the record is only 36, received (H/T Basketball Insiders) 1,152,402 votes to the 1,069,368 picked up by Harden.

Bryant is averaging 22.3 points per game, but is doing so on 37.3 percent shooting and, was diagnosed on Thursday with a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder that he sustained in Wednesday’s loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

So it’s possible that Harden will get the starting nod in Bryant’s place anyway.

Jan 13, 2015; Sacramento, CA, USA; Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins (15) blocks a shot by Dallas Mavericks center Tyson Chandler (6) during the fourth quarter at Sleep Train Arena. The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Sacramento Kings 108-104. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports /

In the frontcourt, DeMarcus Cousins of the Sacramento Kings is having a monster season—currently fourth in the Association in scoring at 24 points per game and third with 12.7 rebounds a night—but didn’t even come close to getting a starting nod.

Cousins received 465,334 votes—only good for seventh in the frontcourt voting and more than 235,000 votes behind Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers, who grabbed the third spot in the voting.

Those were the two most questionable calls by the voters, who also voted in Carmelo Anthony of the host New York Knicks into the game despite his team’s horrific 7-36 record.

Anthony is tied with Cousins for fourth in the NBA in scoring.

The Eastern Conference lineup includes LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Pau Gasol of the Chicago Bulls—a first-time starter—and Anthony in the frontcourt, with a pair of first-time starters in the backcourt in John Wall of the Washington Wizards and Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors.

In the Western Conference, the frontcourt starters are Anthony Davis of the Pelicans and Marc Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies—both first-time starters—along with Griffin. The backcourt features Bryant and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, also a first-time starter.

Curry was the leading vote-getter with 1,513,324 ballots cast for him—almost 43,000 more than James garnered.

There was a definite changing of the guard (and forward) in the voting, with longtime favorites such as Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, Tim Duncan, Kevin Durant and Dwight Howard not making the cut for the starting fives.

Reserves will be announced on Jan. 29. The East will be coached by Mike Budenholzer of the Atlanta Hawks and Steve Kerr of the Warriors has already locked up the West coaching gig. The coaches with the best records as of Feb. 1 are selected, but both coaches locked up their spots Wednesday night.

The Hawks lead the Wizards by six games in the East, while Golden State is 4½ games ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers out West.

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