Biggest ‘snubs’ from the 2021 NBA All-Star Game

The rest: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, De’Aaron Fox and Ja Morant

The Oklahoma City Thunder were not supposed to be even this good this season, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s emergence as one of the best two-way guards in the league is a big part of the reason why. He’s putting up a 23-7-5 stat line in his third year, shooting 50.6 percent from the floor, 40.7 percent from 3-point range and 78.3 percent from the foul line. With that being said, the Thunder’s 12-19 record made it hard to justify an All-Star spot for Gilgeous-Alexander. His time will come, but we’re not quite there yet.

It’s a similar situation for De’Aaron Fox, whose 22.3 points, 7.1 assists and 3.2 boards per game would’ve been worth paying more attention to if the Sacramento Kings weren’t so bad at 12-18. Unfortunately, they are, and Fox’s 3-point efficiency plummeting back down to earth didn’t help his case in such a crowded field.

As for Ja Morant, his Memphis Grizzlies are a more respectable 13-14, but they’re still a sub-.500 team and his numbers (19.1 points and 7.9 assists per game) aren’t quite as impressive as they needed to be to make up for it. Morant has missed eight games as well, which may not sound like a lot, but that constitutes nearly 30 percent of the Grizzlies’ season thus far.

Verdict: Correct call