Per Shams, it seems no Raptor has been named to the NBA All-Star game.
Sources: 2021 NBA All-Star reserves:
West: Chris Paul, Paul George, Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Zion Williamson, Anthony Davis
East: James Harden, Julius Randle, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Zach LaVine, Ben Simmons, Nikola Vucevic
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 23, 2021
There are a few different storylines at play here. For one, Kyle Lowry had been a six-time consecutive All-Star. With one more he could have tied Joe Johnson. And Pascal Siakam is coming off of his first All-Star appearance, and he was a starter last year. He also was named to the All-NBA Second Team. Both will have their appearance, lengthy and budding, streaks broken.
Perhaps even more grievously, Fred VanVleet will not appear in his first All-Star game this year. He has been Toronto’s best player this year, averaging 20.1 points, 6.6 assists, 4.4 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and 0.7 (!!!) blocks per game. If anyone was going to make the All-Star game from the Raptors, it was going to be VanVleet. If there is to be an injury replacement named — and that, too, seems likely, given the *waves hands at everything* circumstances — VanVleet could make the game that way. VanVleet has said he won’t be disappointed either way, as he’ll enjoy his vacation if he doesn’t have to play.
It’s not an outrage that VanVleet isn’t making the game. Perhaps he has a case over Jaylen Brown or Zach LaVine, but neither argument is ironclad, and both Brown and LaVine deserve to be at the game, too. VanVleet will surely appear at an All-Star game in the future, as his game continues improving in rapid leaps and jumps.
