The 2022 NBA All-Star game is about a month away as the league assembles the best stars from each conference to play it out in a fun affair. The Los Angeles Lakers should have representation this year with the way LeBron James is playing, but it’s not quite clear how Anthony Davis stands.
Davis has played in 27 out of 41 games so far this season because of an MCL sprain that occurred in mid-December. In those games, Davis averaged 23.3 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.2 steals while shooting 52.1% from the field.
Though Davis has faced criticism for his play, his numbers are still strong — despite what his expectations are. But is it enough to warrant an All-Star spot this season?
According to The Athletic’s latest article on All-Star picks from each conference, Davis just makes it in as the last man in the Western Conference:
Anthony Davis, Lakers: The first 11 spots on the West team are pretty clear-cut; the last one is not. We are basically left with two classes of players: those who are normally fixtures on the All-Star team but have been injured or ineffective this year and those who’ve been in lineups all year and played fairly well but, if we’re being honest, don’t really belong in an All-Star Game.
Of the first group, Davis has played both the most games (27 games before suffering an MCL sprain) and the most effectively, and he seems likely to be back in action before the All-Star Game.
In this sorting, Davis just edged Damian Lillard, Paul George and Dejounte Murray for the final spot. But Davis will also need to get some games under his belt before the decisions are made.
The Athletic picked LeBron to be a starter for the West, though the game is now based on captains from each conference to select their respective teams. Davis was also in the top 10 for the Western Conference frontcourt in fan voting.
Only time will tell if Davis will be healthy in time to make a strong push for an All-Star spot, which would be the ninth nod of his career.
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