Who should the coaches select as NBA All-Star Game Reserves? Here are my picks.

On January 25, 2025By Littum

The fans have had their say…for the most part. They wanted LaMelo Ball to be an All-Star Starter, but the player votes (had him third) and mostly the media (seventh) finished that. However, the media wanted Victor Wembanyama and Anthony Davis to start over LeBron James and Kevin Durant, but they didn’t get that wish either.

The NBA All-Star Game starters have been selected, And now it falls to NBA coaches – or the assistants they rely on this – to select the reserves for each conference. Those coaches must vote for two guards, three forwards and two wildcards – seven players in all from each conference. Their selection will be announced next Thursday.

Who should they vote for? We’ll break it down, but first, let’s remember who the starters are:

Western Conference starters

G. Stephen Curry
G. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
F. Nikola Jokic
F. LeBron James
F. Kevin Durant

Eastern Conference starters

G. Jalen Brunson
G. Donovan Mitchell
F. Giannis Antetokounmpo
F. Karl-Anthony Towns
F. Jayson Tatum

Here’s who the coaches should vote for for the All-Star Game Reserves and head to San Francisco for the Feb. 16 game.

Western Conference All-Star Reserves

G. Anthony Edwards
G. Kyrie Irving
F. Domantas Sabonis
F. Anthony Davis
F. Victor Wembanyama
toilet Jalen Williams
toilet Jaren Jackson Jr.

Snubs: Alperen Sengun (Rockets), Luka Doncic (Mavericks), Devin Booker (Suns), Ja Morant (Grizzlies), James Harden (Clippers), Ivica Zubac (Clippers), De’Aaron Fox (Kings),

Selecting West Reserves is brutal and impossible – deserving players will miss out. As a prime example, with these picks, I snubbed the Houston Rockets by not giving them any All-Stars, the team that sat second in the conference. If you enter, it must be Center Alperen Sengun.

Luka Doncic is undeniably an all-star-level talent, but he’s missed more than half of his team’s games so far this season (and that number is growing since he’s out with a calf strain that is expected to he will return before the All-Star game) . The same goes for JA Morant, who just missed too many games despite being an all-star talent.

There are a few givens on this list: Wembanyama, Davis, Anthony Edwards and Jalen Williams are arguably All-Stars (Edwards’ game didn’t take the leap we all hoped this season, but he’s still an all-star level player ).

Jaren Jackson Jr. is the leading scorer and best defenseman (considering the DPOY ballot) at no. 3 team in the West, and he must be in. Kyrie Irving makes the cut for me as a guard over morant or de ‘ Aaron Fox, but Fox’s teammate -domantaer Sabonis should earn a spot on the roster as a big, he is consistently impressive every night.

Maxey is hard to leave out, but unfortunately his team has pulled him down. If the coaches put him in, I can’t blame them. It’s still hard for me to pick him over Garland — who might have gotten a starter’s vote over his teammate Mitchell — Young, Cunningham or Lillard. If anyone gets bumped from this group, it has to be Lillard, but he deserves it.

Mobley and Brown are Givens (I had voted Mobley a starter over cities, I’m so high on him) and Adebayo continues to impress and does everything for the Heat inside. It constitutes the front court. Paolo Banchero would have but just missed too much time in the first half of this season.

While we—fans, media, and coaches—pick these teams East vs. West, isn’t that how they want to play in San Francisco—the NBA has shaken up the All-Star format in an effort to inject energy and competition into the event.

The 12 All-Stars starters and reserves in each conference (24 players total) will be divided into three teams of eight players each, with those teams drafted by the former players on TNT’s Inside NBA: Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, and Kenny “The Jet” Smith. Those three teams, plus the winning team from Friday night’s Rising Star Challenge (a game of rookies and second-year players), will enter a four-team knockout-style tournament with games to 40.

We’ll see how it looks next month. However, the selection of All-Star players remains the same.

Western Conference starters

Eastern Conference starters

Western Conference All-Star Reserves

Eastern Conference All-Star Reserves