This season's NBA All-Star Game will take place in Cleveland on Feb. 20, while the Utah Jazz could have an All-Star starter for the first time in decades. Five days after fan voting began, ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins unveiled what he considered the All-Star Game Western Conference starting lineup on social media, including a Utah Jazz player.
Here's what Perkins proposed for the All-Star Western Conference starting lineup:
Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic
Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert
Since Carl Malone was in the All-Star starting lineup twice in 1997 and 1998, not a single Jazz player has been an All-Star starter in 24 years. In addition, only two times in Jazz history have two players made all-Star starts at the same time, in 1989 and 1993 by Malone and John Stockton.
As far as the Jazz team is concerned, there may be many people who think that Donovan Mitchell is the player who should be selected as the most important all-Star starter, after all, he can average 25.4 points and 1.6 steals per game this season, and can also hit 3.2 three-pointers, helping the Jazz achieve a 25-9 record, closely following the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns, so some Jazz fans suggested in comments that Mitchell should replace Morant, so that the Jazz can have two players in the All-Star starting lineup at the same time.
Gobert is indeed very promising to be named an All-Star starter, and his efficiency under the basket this season is among the best in the league, and the 2.16-meter-tall French center can currently average 15.6 points and 14.9 rebounds per game, shooting 71.6% from the field, and there has never been a player in the history of the league who can play such a stat in a season at the same time. Last season's Jazz had three all-Stars inducted, Gobert and Mitchell, who joined forces for the second consecutive year in an All-Star game, and Mike Conley, who was selected for the first time in his career.