Wembanyama heads All-Star reserves
San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama was one of 14 players revealed as reserves for the NBA All-Star Game
Victor Wembanyama was named one of six first-time NBA All-Stars as the reserves were announced Thursday night for the Feb. 16 event in San Francisco.
The second-year San Antonio Spurs center was one of 14 players revealed, with seven from each conference.
From the Eastern Conference: Boston's Jaylen Brown, Indiana's Pascal Siakam, Cleveland's Darius Garland and Evan Mobley, Detroit's Cade Cunningham, Milwaukee's Damian Lillard - last year's All-Star MVP - and Miami's Tyler Herro.
From the West: Wembanyama, Minnesota's Anthony Edwards, the Los Angeles Lakers' Anthony Davis, the Los Angeles Clippers' James Harden, Memphis' Jaren Jackson Jr., Houston's Alperen Sengun and Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams.
Cunningham, Mobley, Herro, Sengun and Williams joined Wembanyama as first-time All-Stars.
Wembanyama becomes only the fourth Spurs player to make the All-Star Game in his first or second season. The others are Alvin Robertson in 1986, David Robinson in 1990 and 1991, and Tim Duncan in 1998.
“It’s just a testament to his first year and a half in this league and the work he put in prior to that and trusting the process of trying to get incrementally better, not skipping steps," acting Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said of Wembanyama last week in Paris, when asked about his center's All-Star chances. "And then, obviously, that allows the talent and unique skill set to shine through.”
Coaches select the reserves, after the 10 names for the starters pool were announced last week through a combination of fan voting (50%), media voting (25%) and active player voting (25%).
The 10 players picked last week as starters were Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Phoenix’s Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James (his record-extending 21st All-Star nod), Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, New York teammates Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell and Boston’s Jayson Tatum.
Notable omissions from the East were Atlanta’s Trae Young, the NBA leader with 11.4 assists per game, and Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball, who is averaging 28.2 points, 7.3 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game.
Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis has the best case among Western players left out. He is averaging a league-leading 14.5 rebounds to go with 20.9 points and 6.6 assists. Sabonis also leads the NBA with 42 double-doubles and ranks third with eight triple-doubles.
There will be at least 15 players who “start” at the All-Star Game this season. It’s the first year of a new All-Star format, with three games. The 24 All-Stars will be drafted into three teams of eight players apiece by TNT personalities and former NBA greats Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith.
That draft will be held Feb. 6.
Those three teams will be entered into a four-team tournament, with the remaining squad made up of NBA rookies and second-year players from the Rising Stars event on All-Star Friday, which is Feb. 14. There are two semifinal games, with the winners meeting in a championship game. The games should go quickly; the first team to reach 40 points wins.
The league changed the format this year with hopes that shorter games will be more competitive. Last year's All-Star Game was the highest-scoring in league history, a 211-186 game that was basically all 3-pointers and dunks.
The youngest All-Star in franchise history! pic.twitter.com/xcpsIa4HU3
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) January 30, 2025