Victor Wembanyama has been nominated as an All Star reserve for the primary time in his NBA profession. Whereas starters have been chosen by the followers, gamers and media, the reserves are chosen by the coaches. Wemby got here in fourth in starter votes for entrance court docket gamers within the Western Convention behind Nikola Jokic, LeBron James and Kevin Durant. He’s the primary Spurs to make the All-Star sport since Dejounte Murray in 2022.
In solely his second season, Wemby is averaging 24.4 factors, 10.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists, a league-leading 3.9 blocks and 1.1 steals and is broadly thought of the favourite to win Defensive Participant of the Yr, which might put him in some extraordinarily uncommon firm. He will even take part within the Rising Stars Problem together with Spurs rookie Stephon Fortress, who will even take part within the Slam Dunk Contest, so the Spurs will probably be effectively represented.
As a reminder, the All-Star sport is taking up a brand new format this 12 months, matching the Rising Stars mini-tournament format, the place 4 groups will face one another. The 24 All Stars will probably be drafted into three groups of eight, and the fourth crew would be the winner of Rising Stars. The groups will play in a mini-tournament format. Staff A will face Staff B within the first semifinal, and Staff C will play Staff D within the second semifinal. The primary groups to 40 factors wins, and the 2 winners will then face one another within the finale, the place the primary to 25 factors is the champion.
This after all presents an attention-grabbing proposition for Wemby: assuming he makes the All Star sport as a reserve, what occurs if his crew advances from the Rising Stars Problem? (My assumption is he would be a part of his All Star crew, and somebody from one other Rising Stars crew could be chosen to take his place, however we’ll have to attend and discover out if that state of affairs even presents itself.)
All Star Weekend will happen on the Chase Heart in San Francisco from Friday, Feb. 14 via via Sunday, Feb. 16. The All Star Sport will happen on Sunday at 7:00 PM CT on TNT. Congrats, Wemby!
