Why Chris Paul should have made the 2017 NBA All-Star team

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Dec 14, 2016; Orlando, FL, USA; LA Clippers guard Chris Paul (3) looks on against the Orlando Magic during the second half at Amway Center. LA Clippers defeated the Orlando Magic 113-108. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

One of the league’s best

Put it all together, and Paul is one of the most productive and impactful players in the NBA on both ends of the court, regardless of what quantification method is used. Paul does well in all of the traditional box score composite stats. He is currently seventh in the NBA in Player Efficiency Rating (PER, 27.4), first in Win Shares per 48 minutes (WS48, 0.291), and second in Box Plus-Minus (BPM, 10.0). Those are all per-minute stats, but he also does well in the counting versions of the composite box score stats. He is currently 11th with 6.7 Win Shares (seventh, with 4.9 Offensive Win Shares), and ninth in Value Over Replacement Player. The counting stats are important, because they speak again to how his injury did not limit him enough to prevent him from being one of the most productive players in the first half of the season.

The impact estimates are even kinder to Paul, as he is in first by a significant margin in ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus (RPM) calculation to date. Paul’s RPM score of 9.29 is 2.32 points higher than second place Kyle Lowry (RPM 6.97), a larger gap than the one between Lowry and 15th place Kevin Love (RPM, 4.76). This huge difference in estimated on-court impact per minute translates to their WINS calculation, a counting stat in which Paul still measures seventh in the NBA (WINS, 8.91) overall and fifth in the Western Conference. Paul accounts for far more WINS in this estimate than anyone on the Clippers, including more than fellow starters DeAndre Jordan (WINS, 5.29) and Blake Griffin (WINS, 3.29) combined.

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Chris Paul is very arguably the biggest All Star snub of the season, because by any objective measure he has been one of the top players in the league. Per-minute he measures out as a potential MVP, but even with games missed due to injury he still measures out as All-Star worthy in the counting stats. Paul makes his impact on both offense and defense, boosting both units to near the top of the league, and he was worthy of being named an All-Star for the tenth season in a row. That he wasn’t is a shame.

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