Last week, we learned the 10 players who will make up the 2021 NBA All-Star Game starters. Headlined by captains LeBron James and Kevin Durant, it’s hard to have too many gripes about the dudes who will comprise the game’s first unit, although one of the players, Luka Doncic, made clear that he thought his starting gig should have gone to Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers.
On Tuesday night, the league had plans to announce its lengthy list of reserves, but they got beaten to the punch by Shams Charania of The Athletic. Charania reported that 14 players, headlined by Lillard and James Harden, will make it to the game, with a handful of them getting All-Star nods for the first times in their careers, with Zion Williamson arguably being the flashiest name of that bunch.
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, as always, a handful of snubs, but this is a deserving group of players who will take the floor in Atlanta on March 7. The only potential name that could end up getting the All-Star title in an honorary fashion only could end up being Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers. While he has not officially been ruled out, Davis is dealing with an Achilles issue, and the All-Star Game is a little to early for the four-week timetable for a return that was put on him last week.