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If you want to know how seriously the players took All-Star voting, 364 different players ended up getting votes from the 386 player ballots. Bronny James received two votes. Donte DiVincenzo received as many votes (21) as James Harden. Steven Adams received more votes (16) than Alperen Şengün (15). Adem Bona and Jayson Tatum both received a vote. And my favorite voting decision was Drew Peterson getting a vote. He was waived by Charlotte on Dec. 24.
Tanking Tuesday
A crowded race to be No. 1
Cameron Boozer (Duke), AJ Dybantsa (BYU) and Darryn Peterson (Kansas). Those are the three players you will hear as potential No. 1 pick selections until the draft in late June. Some chatter will be determined by which team wins the lottery in May, or how these guys finish out their respective seasons. Maybe even some of it will be determined by the pre-draft process.
Regardless of where you fall with these three prospects, the assumption is that as long as you’re a team that ends up with a top-three pick in this particular draft, you’ll be just fine. I wanted to look back over the last couple decades and see if that was factual. In years where there are three guys “destined to be stars,” how often has it shaken out that all three players … were?
First, let’s determine which drafts from 2003 to 2022 even qualify for something like this. Feels like the last couple drafts still need some time. Let me offer up the following years for consideration:
- 2003: LeBron James, Darko Miličić and Carmelo Anthony
- 2004: Dwight Howard, Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon
- 2008: Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley and OJ Mayo
- 2010: John Wall, Evan Turner and DeMarcus Cousins
- 2014: Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker and Joel Embiid
- 2015: Karl-Anthony Towns, D’Angelo Russell and Jahlil Okafor
- 2017: Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball and Jayson Tatum
- 2020: Anthony Edwards, James Wiseman and LaMelo Ball
- 2021: Cade Cunningham, Jalen Green and Evan Mobley
- 2022: Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren and Jabari Smith Jr.
After some very intense discussions (with a group chat) about these years, I feel pretty comfortable with the 10 drafts as examples. And no, the three players involved didn’t always go in the first three picks. But these were “the guys” you could get by landing a top-three spot.
The 2003 draft might be the most infamous because of the Miličić selection by Detroit (at No. 2). It sounds ridiculous now, but the hype at the time made a lot of people feel like he’d be essential to grab in the draft. Just not over Anthony (No. 3). In this case, two of the three teams benefited from it. (Let’s never forget Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade were also picks Nos. 4 and 5, respectively.)
In fact, when you look over this list of 10, 2022 might be the one I feel most confident in giving us an “all three panned out as significant players” situation. Elsewhere, Gordon and Okafor were fine, but aside from Sixth Man and Rookie of the Year, respectively, they didn’t have any accolades. Beasley and Mayo were not worth it in 2008. Turner was fine, but not a main guy in 2010.
From 2014, Wiggins had his issues until he got to Golden State, and Parker’s knees never let him have a real chance. Okafor (2015) barely stayed in the league. Fultz and Lonzo Ball are bizarre cases from 2017. Wiseman was a disaster, and LaMelo Ball hasn’t been a serious pro (2020). There’s still time for Green to get it together with Phoenix, but his time with Houston was disappointing. Smith probably won’t be an All-Star, but maybe he ends up an All-Defensive player?
Essentially, just landing a top-three pick in 2026 is not a safe way of going about any of this. It probably does matter whether you get the top selection, just to cut down on the mistakes you make or might be left with on draft night. Historically, you’re not getting all three of these guys to just pan out with their potential.
The Last 24
📈 Power Rankings. Law Murray has the latest Power Rankings out! And he wonders: What if every team got an All-Star?
👀 Showcase? Jayson Tatum has been working toward a return this season. He worked out for an hour for the media.
🌍 Leader emerging? NBA Europe is going to need someone leading the way. Is it Pau Gasol?
🏀 This patch? We’ve seen some unflattering sports trading cards. Jimmy Butler’s “poo card” has entered the chat.
Stream the NBA on Fubo (try it for free!) and catch out-of-market games on League Pass.
All Stars
Did Anthony Edwards get snubbed?
Yesterday, the NBA announced the All-Star starters for next month’s game in Inglewood, Calif. Five from the East and five from the West were decided by a weighted score of how they ranked in the fan vote (50 percent), player vote (25 percent) and media rank (25 percent). These are your starters:
- East: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Cade Cunningham, Jalen Brunson, Jaylen Brown and Tyrese Maxey
- West: Nikola Jokić, Luka Dončić, Victor Wembanyama, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Steph Curry
Right below, you can see how everything shook out with the voting and where they ranked. It’s worth noting that Deni Avdija received a massive push in the fan voting, and that might have kept Anthony Edwards from grabbing the last starter spot over Wemby. They both tied, but fan votes were the tiebreaker. Avdija jumping both Ant and Wemby in fan voting was certainly a surprise. I voted for Edwards over Curry for my official media ballot, just FYI. He seems like the best candidate for an All-Star starter snub.
We know 10 of the 24 All-Stars headed to the greater Los Angeles area. The 14 reserve selections (seven from each conference) will be voted upon by the coaches. But let’s remember another aspect of this whole All-Star format. We have two teams of eight, containing nothing but USA-born players. And then we’re going to have one team of eight international All-Stars.
With Jokić, Dončić, SGA, Wemby and Giannis already making it as starters, only three spots will/can go to the remaining international All-Star options. It’s kind of a crowded field for those three spots, too. I have some questions about what happens with the selection process from here:
- How are we ensuring exactly three international spots get selected here by the coaches? Is the NBA coordinating with the coaching pools in each conference to make sure we only end up with three more international players?
- What happens if a fourth international guy gets selected by the coaches? Is the NBA going to say he doesn’t get to make it? Would we have to move the next USA-born player up the list on the voting?
- What if the coaches don’t have three international guys making it between the 14 spots? Are we knocking down USA-born players until we finally get to the next international guy? Is that a fair way to do all this?
Of course, the reminder to any player who feels slighted by any of this is that this process has been ruined by the group: The players allowed the All-Star Game to become such a joke over the last decade or so that this is where we are. There’s very much a situation where Norman Powell doesn’t get his first selection because we had to make sure we got to eight international selections. How would that feel to someone like Powell?
Of the available international options, I’d imagine Avdija, Alperen Şengün, Jamal Murray, Pascal Siakam, Lauri Markkanen, Joel Embiid, Josh Giddey and even Dillon Brooks have the best chance at those final three spots.
About Yesterday
MLK Day was full of hoops
Warriors 135, Heat 112: Another strong performance at home for the Warriors, capped by a devastating loss. Jimmy Butler tore his ACL after leaping for a rebound and is out for the remainder of the season. Huge blow to a team that finally found its stride.
Pistons 104, Celtics 103: A heroic fourth-quarter effort from Jaylen Brown fell short when his game-winning jumper played a mini game of PLINKO before falling outside of the rim. Brown had 10 of his 32 points in the fourth, but needed two more to take down the best in the East. Cade Cunningham struggled to shoot (4-of-17) but had 16 points and 14 assists. Tobias Harris hit big shots on his way to 25.
Thunder 136, Cavaliers 104: Maybe the Cavs thought about trying to make a run to steal this game at home when they were down 12 going into the fourth quarter. OKC dashed those dreams for Cleveland with a 45-25 final period. The Thunder hit 10 3-pointers in the fourth, and the Cavs hit eight shots total. SGA finished with 30, and Chet Holmgren had 28.
Mavericks 114, Knicks 97: The Knicks might be officially broken. Cooper Flagg made his Madison Square Garden debut, and he played pretty well. He had 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting, and he also grabbed seven boards with three assists. But the Knicks were down 75-47 at halftime, and never really threatened a comeback. They only have two wins in their last 11 games, and they’ve been held under 100 points in four of those losses. This is getting pretty rough for a team that looked so promising at the end of 2025.
Bucks 112, Hawks 110: Kyle Kuzma (yes, that Kyle Kuzma) locked down CJ McCollum’s game-tying attempt with a couple seconds left, and the Bucks hung on for a much-needed win in the East. It pulled them within a half game of Atlanta for the 10th spot in the East. Giannis had 21 points, 17 rebounds and six assists. AJ Green had 18 points by making six 3-pointers. The Bucks overcame 32 points from Nickeil Alexander-Walker, 28-16-6 from Jalen Johnson and 17-9-10 from Dyson Daniels. Atlanta has lost four straight.
Spurs 123, Jazz 110: Victor Wembanyama had 33 points and 10 rebounds as the Spurs easily cruised to the victory over Utah. Keyonte George had 30, and Jusuf Nurkić had 20. But the Spurs lit up the Jazz for 16 3-pointers with Wemby knocking down 7 of 12 from deep.
Clippers 110, Wizards 106: Kawhi Leonard is out, so James Harden is stepping up even more. He had 36 points, including going 18-of-20 from the free-throw line. He took nearly as many free throws as the Wizards (22). Trae Young still hasn’t stepped on the court for Washington.
Suns 126, Nets 117: Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks and Collin Gillespie combined for 73 points, and the Nets just couldn’t crack through to push them enough.
76ers 113, Pacers 104: Joel Embiid had 30 points, and Tyrese Maxey had 29 points, eight dimes and eight steals to hold off the Pacers in the fourth.
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