Ranking the most undeserving NBA All-Star starters this season

The 2024-25 NBA All-Star Game format is completely different from past years. Instead of having two teams go head-to-head, four teams will be competing in a tournament to determine the winner. The hope is that the players will show more effort than they have in previous iterations on the All-Star stage.

The change in format makes those selected as All-Star Game "starters" rather useless. In the past, the 10 players voted to start would automatically begin the game on the court. Now, the starters are scattered around three of the four teams — they still will start their respective games, but not all together.

With that being said, though, much of the discourse around All-Star Weekend still revolves around snubs and those undeserving to play certain roles in the game itself. While all 10 "starters" deserved to be All-Stars, a few of them did not deserve to be given the recognition as starters.

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3. The Eastern Conference had several guards who might have been better options than Jalen Brunson

The first player on the list is also the most controversial. An argument can easily be made that Jalen Brunson deserved to be an All-Star starter. He has averaged 26.1 points per game on 49.2/39.7/81.6 percent splits to go along with 2.8 rebounds and 7.5 assists a night on a New York Knicks team that is among the best in the Eastern Conference.

While Brunson has obviously been awesome, several other guards deserved recognition, arguably over New York's star guard. Darius Garland isn't as dominant statistically as Garland, but his Cleveland Cavaliers are the best team in the Eastern Conference with Garland playing a major role. LaMelo Ball has missed some time due to injury and his play hasn't led to winning in Charlotte, but his statistics were certainly more impressive than Brunson and Donovan Mitchell — the other starting guard in the Eastern Conference.

Even Cade Cunningham, a player who has led a Detroit Pistons team with no expectations to the thick of the playoff race, had a case over Brunson. Cunningham, averaging over 25 points, six rebounds, and nine assists per game, has statistics on par with or even better than Brunson while working with a lot less in Detroit, and still winning games.

Brunson isn't necessarily undeserving of being recognized as a starter, but if the league valued winning more, Garland might've made more sense. If the league valued statistics more, Ball definitely made more sense. If the league valued both, Cunningham's resume arguably sticks out more than Brunson's.

2. Stephen Curry has not played up to his superstar standards

I get why Stephen Curry wound up earning a starting spot in the Western Conference. He's as popular of a player as there is in the sport, has had a good year, and the game taking place in San Francisco certainly doesn't hurt. With that being said, though, his production certainly didn't scream starter worthy.

Curry was averaging 22.6 points per game on 44.8/40.7/94.0 percent splits to go along with 4.9 rebounds and 6.3 assists. Sure, he obviously was in the midst of a strong year, but All-Star starter worthy? Really? Especially when the Golden State Warriors were under .500 at the time?

Anthony Edwards, for example, was putting up far better numbers at the time for a Minnesota Timberwolves team that, while slightly disappointing, was winning far more than Golden State. He would've made far more sense than Curry to start.

1. There's no logical reason for Kevin Durant to have been chosen as a starter

Much like Curry, I understand why Kevin Durant was chosen as a starter. He too is a popular NBA legend who is still an unbelievable player. While Durant has had an All-Star caliber year, why exactly was he chosen to start over Victor Wembanyama or even Anthony Davis (who wouldn't actually be able to start, but was in the conversation during voting?)

Durant, while great, missed some time due to injury and was on a Phoenix Suns team that was not close to reaching its massive expectations.

On the flip side, Wembanyama, while not having the offensive numbers Durant had, has been the clear front runner to win the Defensive Player of the Year award while also leading the San Antonio Spurs on a somewhat surprising run towards playoff contention. Davis was arguably the most valuable member of the Los Angeles Lakers at the time that the starters were chosen, and yet, Durant and LeBron James made it over him.