Picking 2022-23 NBA Western Conference All-Stars

Congratulations to all chosen on this meaningless ballot.

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

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Francesco St. Jerome; Jacopo Palma il Giovane; 1595

Last week, we picked Eastern Conference All-Stars. The starters will formally be announced on Thursday, and then coaches will select the reserves. In the meantime, let’s run through my West All-Star picks. Remember: I do not have a media vote for starters and I am not an NBA head coach, so these are just for publication and nothing more.

Starters:

• Nikola Jokic

• LeBron James

• Domantas Sabonis

• Luka Doncic

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Jokic is the MVP favorite right now in my book. What he’s done to both carry the Nuggets to the top of the standings while allowing Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. to relocate their flow by being whatever the Nuggets need on a nightly basis: it’s nothing short of remarkable. Maybe the coolest player in the league, too.

LeBron is having a spectacular season, albeit for the 12th seed. He’s something interesting: at age 38, he’s near career highs in usage rate, rebound rate and turnover rate. He’s not “as good as ever” because he has had some of the greatest individual seasons ever in the past. But his good season would be almost anyone else’s best. He’s also played 37 games, which is a great number for him and the Lakers at this juncture.

Sabonis shouldn’t be flying under any radar trackers at this point. He’s the leader for All-NBA third team center, he’s the most important player on the most surprising team (the No. 3 seed, in case you haven’t heard), he’s the league’s top rebounder, he scores nearly as efficiently as Kevin Durant (albeit on less volume), he’s 11th in assists per game. And he’s been doing all that with a taped-up broken thumb for the last month. Incredible.

Luka is spectacular and is one of the two players with a real shot at taking the MVP trophy from Jokic this year (Jayson Tatum being the other). SGA over Stephen Curry will be a controversial pick, because heavens is Curry dominant. Shai has played 11 more games at this point, and is playing at a Currian level for a team just as good as the Warriors right now, plus has been one of the league’s two best clutch performers. Start him. (He’s not going to start in real life.)

Reserve Guards: