Russell Westbrook, Jimmy Butler and Kristaps Porzingis Headline All-Star Reserves
Karl-Anthony Towns, Kristaps Porzingis, Victor Oladipo and Bradley Beal have been selected for their first career All-Star games, the league announced.
The field of 14 reserves for this year's game is made up with seven players from each conference (two backcourt players, two frontcourt players and two wildcards).
Joining Towns from the West will be Russell Westbrook, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, LaMarcus Aldridge, Klay Thompson and Damian Lillard. Westbrook, a two-time All-Star Game MVP, will be making his seventh appearance. Aldridge will be in his sixth game while Butler and Thompson are in their fourth All-Star Game, which is one more than Green and Lillard.
In the East, Kyle Lowry, Al Horford, Kevin Love and John Wall will join Beal, Oladipo and Porzingis. Horford, Love and Wall will be in their fifth All-Star games while Lowry makes his fourth appearance in the game.
Like every season, there are a group of snubs. This year's biggest snubs appear to be Paul George, Lou Williams and Andre Drummond.
Instead of the traditional East vs. West format, this season teams will be picked by the top vote-getter from each conference, LeBron James and Steph Curry. In addition to the 14 players announced Tuesday, James and Curry will also choose from the eight other starters who were announced last week (Kyrie irving, DeMar DeRozan, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, James Harden, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins).
James will have the first pick as the top overall vote-getter. He and Curry will pick from the eight other starters in the first round of the draft before choosing any of the reserves. Curry will have the first pick in the second round.
The teams will be announced Thursday, Jan. 25 and the All-Star Game will take place Sunday, Feb. 18 in Los Angeles. Despite a strong push from social media, the All-Star Game draft will not be televised.
