NBA All-Stars: Holmgren, Sengun Over Towns, Gobert?

The NBA season is roughly a quarter of the way through, and early All-Star selections is a fun piece of discourse to engage in. ESPN recently did a post looking at too-early All-Stars across the league.

In the ESPN piece written by Kevin Pelton, Chet Holmgren is selected as a Western Conference reserve All-Star. The rookie is averaging 17 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game through 22 appearances. Beyond the box score, Holmgren's impact on both sides of the floor absolutely elevates the Thunder's ceiling.

At 15-7 through the first 22 games, Holmgren's impact on winning has shined as he perfectly complements his MVP candidate teammate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Holmgren would hypothetically be the first rookie to make the All-Star team since Blake Griffin did so for the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2010-11 NBA season in a similar situation to Holmgren. Griffin missed his first season in the team's final preseason matchup. Holmgren missed his initial season with an injury, too.

In Pelton's selections, he also has Alperen Sengun, a Houston Rockets third-year center, as the other reserve big man. This means both Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert -- the two big men on the Minnesota Timberwolves, the No. 1 team in the West -- would be behind these two young stars.

Sengun is averaging 20.5 points, 9.1 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game in his 20 games played. He's leading a Rockets team that is 11-9 and the No. 7 team in the West.

Gobert and Towns both being snubbed would be an interesting choice as that would leave Anthony Edwards as the lone All-Star on the Timberwolves, who lead the Western Conference standings by two games currently.

For Holmgren, though, an All-Star appearance in his first season would be huge, and it would be an honor that directly shows what his immediate impact on the playing floor has been in Oklahoma City.

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