Utah Jazz’s Keyonte George, Markkanen Left Off All-Star Roster

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It looks like the Utah Jazz won't have any representation in this year's All-Star Game.
With the NBA's latest release of All-Star reserves for the Western Conference, the Jazz would see neither Lauri Markkanen nor Keyonte George in the mix of those seven, thus leaving Utah without an All-Star for a third consecutive season.
After ten All-Star starters were selected via a combination of fan, media, and player votes, the selections for seven reserves in each conference would be decided upon by coaches at the beginning of February.
For those seven All-Star reserve selections: Anthony Edwards, Devin Booker, Chet Holmgren, Jamal Murray, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Deni Avdija would be the ones to get those nods.
The Western Conference players honored as reserves for the 2026 NBA All-Star Game ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/kmAtdvGE6N
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) February 1, 2026
However, as for Markkanen and George, they were left empty-handed, and barring any injury replacements that may come about in the next two weeks, they'll be left waiting until next year to get those honors to come their way.
Lauri Markkanen, Keyonte George Left Off All-Star Roster
Based on the recent production for both George and Markkanen from this season, there was a case to be made for one of the two to had an outside shot to be one of those lucky seven reserves to dive into the All-Star mix.
Lauri Markkanen has been having a better season than his All-Star campaign back in 2023, averaging a career-high 27.4 points per game, 7.0 rebounds, and 2.2 assists while shooting 47.9% from the field and 36.4% from three. The Jazz forward is also top-10 in the NBA for points per game.
As for George, he's broken out onto the scene by averaging 24.2 points per game, 4.0 rebounds, and 6.6 assists— emerging into the league's top ten scorers in terms of total points.

However, while an impressive season on both of their parts, it wouldn't be enough to be one of those lucky seven.
Coming up short simply comes down to the Jazz not only falling short of an appealing enough win-loss record to gain serious traction in All-Star consideration, but also due to the tight competition surrounding the Western Conference.
With only seven spots in play for those reserves, and only 12 total in the West, we even saw other talented and deserving names like Kawhi Leonard and Alperen Sengun fall short of those All-Star honors as well, both of whom having just as appealing, if not a better case, than the Jazz's duo to earn that nod.
In the case of Markkanen, a handful of games missed on the season likely didn't help him gain much traction either. He's missed 13 contests on the year, mostly due to either illness or rest, and with such narrow margins to judge from when picking between seven names, he, along with his backcourt counterpart in George, was left hanging off those aspired selections.
Without any All-Star nods, combined with zero selections into the Rising Stars Game or Saturday night participants, the Jazz are currently slated to have no All-Star representation throughout the entire weekend later next month, barring any unforeseen changes.
If anything, perhaps the All-Star Break will be able to provide a welcomed time-off for this young Jazz squad in order to hit the reset button before embarking on the final 25 games of the season.
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Jared Koch is the deputy editor of Utah Jazz On SI. He's covered the NBA and NFL for the past two years, contributing to Denver Broncos On SI, Indianapolis Colts On SI, and Sacramento Kings On SI. He has covered multiple NBA and NFL events on site, and his works have also appeared on Bleacher Report, MSN, and Yahoo.
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