The All-Star vote ended, James was elected as the ninth time in his career and served as the captain of the Western Conference All-Star Team, and the Eastern Conference All-Star starting lineup was also hot. Western Conference All-Star starts: LeBron James (captain), Stephen Curry, Nikola Jokic, Andrew Wiggins and Ja Morant; Eastern Conference All-Star starts: Durant (captain), Alphabet Brother, Joel Embiid, Demar DeRozan and Trae Young. The starting list caused a heated discussion among fans, because none of the two teams with the first record in the East and West, the Heat and the Suns, were selected as All-Star starts, which was really unexpected by fans, especially the Suns' Chris Paul and Devin Booker, whose statistics were not much different from some players in the Western Conference All-Star starters, but the votes of the two were pitifully low.
In the Western Conference backcourt, Luka Doncic received 54 player votes, Devin Booker got 67 player votes, Chris Paul got 30 player votes, Klay Thompson got 9 player votes, and Booker was also behind Curry, Morant, Doncic and Thompson in the fan vote, ranking only fifth in the waiting field. Suns head coach Monty Williams said of Booker's all-Star vote rankings: "I want to laugh when I see the All-Star vote, I see some people who get higher votes than him. He should be in the starting lineup. Chris Paul, Booker scored in key moments, and that's them. This has been them since they got here. ”
Booker averaged 25 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 33.5 minutes this season, shooting 44.2 percent from the field and 37.7 percent from three-point range, and the Suns also ranked first in the West with a record of 38 wins and 9 losses. And Booker has also had a number of extremely good performances this season, 2 times 40+, 14 times 30+, such performances are really difficult to get an All-Star starting spot. Booker's performance is no less than the performance of Curry and Morant in the starting lineup, of course, it is impossible to let Booker squeeze Curry's starting, Curry has crowned the historical three-point king this season, and the Warriors' record is close behind, coupled with Curry's fan base and popularity This is a gap that Booker is difficult to overcome, but on the contrary, Morant, Booker is still very strong and he breaks his wrist, after all, the two are not much different from all aspects, some fans think that Morant's starting can be replaced by Booker.
Morant as the leader of the Grizzlies has also shown great progress this season, the current Grizzlies record is also third in the West, Morant averaged 25.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 6.9 assists in 33 minutes per game, shooting 48.9%, three-point shooting rate of 35.8%, compared with Booker are 25+ players per game, the data difference is not much, but the Suns record can be better than the Grizzlies, it seems that Booker actually has a reason to completely replace Morant's starting position. But through the game we will see the influence of Morant and Booker on the game, the entire offensive rhythm of the Suns is controlled by Paul, Booker is more as an end point, not so much the Suns are Booker's team, but paul is the real leader of the Suns, without Paul's Suns we have seen what it was like for Booker and Ayton to work together for the first two years, the team is still a team that works hard for playoff tickets, and now who is more credited to this makeover Sun?
And Morant he really carried the Grizzlies into the playoffs, he does not have paul, Ayton and other helpers around him, he is the leader of this youth army, it can be said that Morant's performance directly determines the success or failure of the team, and Morant's performance in the month before the All-Star vote really exploded, 4 consecutive games 30+. Secondly, Morant's style of play is also more attractive, his explosive dunk gives him a lot of powder, many fans prefer Morant's more impactful play, and the ornamentation is also higher, so the two have an advantage over Merant compared to Booker. Speaking about the All-Star vote, Booker said: "I don't worry about this anymore, I'm at a different stage of my career right now." After all, Booker has been named an All-Star twice, and the championship seems to be more attractive than the All-Star, and the 25-year-old Booker has a chance to become an All-Star starter again in the future.
If Booker is still young and has a chance, then Paul did not make the start this time there are indeed some regrets, Paul is 36 years old this season, his state decline is visible to the naked eye, and now Paul does not have the explosiveness of the score that year, more relying on his own experience to organize the attack, Paul averaged 14.5 points, 10.1 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game this season, and currently assists lead the league, if Paul continues to maintain this state, it is likely to win the assist king again, but how much Paul's state can be maintained next season is no guarantee. It's a shame that the 36-year-old veteran didn't make the All-Star starter, paul is now playing one less game like James, but the treatment of the two is very different.
Although Paul and Booker did not make the All-Star starters, it is certain that they will definitely appear on the bench, which seems to become a curse, and last season's number one Jazz backcourt double Gun Conley and Mitchell also came off the bench. In fact, all-star is also an entertainment game, there is no need to be so serious, this is not linked to the strength of the players themselves, there are many players in history who have lost all-star status, why argue for such a false name? Even if he is selected to start an All-Star many times, he will never be able to win a championship, and as Booker said, he is now at different stages of his career. It is believed that after Booker and Paul made their first appearance on the Finals stage last season, their goal is no longer just an All-Star starter, they have a more ambitious goal.