NBA Season Preview 2019-20: 10 players most likely to be first-time All-Stars

3. Rudy Gobert

Why he’ll make it:

It’s honestly pretty silly Rudy Gobert, a two-time All-NBA selection and two-time Defensive Player of the Year, has not made an All-Star Game yet. He’s been the most impactful two-way player on the Utah Jazz for a few years now, and as this team prepares to ascend up the Western Conference ladder, perhaps this seven-footer will finally get his day in the sun.

Donovan Mitchell will lead the Jazz in scoring, while Mike Conley’s arrival will serve as the catalyst for Utah’s continued rise, but Gobert remains — literally and figuratively — at the center of it all. Coming off a season in which the Stifle Tower averaged a career-high 15.9 points, 12.9 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game, if he can keep his production relatively level on a superior team, last year’s tears will turn to vindication.

Why he won’t make it:

Here’s hoping the French Rejection nickname doesn’t refer to All-Star voting for Gobert, but if it does, it’ll be because of how crowded the Western Conference frontcourt is, or because Mitchell is stealing some of his shine with a true leap to stardom in Year 3.

The new additions like Conley, Bogdanovic and Ed Davis will get credit for raising this team’s ceiling, as will Mitchell if he becomes more efficient, but Gobert’s All-Star case will make its bed in finally being recognized for doing the same things he’s always done, only on a better, more dangerous team. That might not be enough if Mitchell’s dazzling numbers claim the spotlight.