ONE new nba season looks out, 2022-2023, which will have the great rendezvous with the stars in the home of the Utah Jazz: the city of Salt Lake City will be his scene NBA All-Star Weekend 2023with the all star game main course.
Last year’s All-Star Game featured several first-timers: Darius Garland, Dejounte Murray, Ja Morant, Andrew Wiggins, LaMelo Ball, Fred VanVleet and Jarrett Allen were listed for the first time among the 27 players who were selected (24 plus three injured substitutes). How many will debut in 2023?
Of those selected for this All-Star Game, only two changed conferences in this campaign: the guards Dejounte Murray and Donovan Mitchell moved from the Western Conference to the Eastern Conference, where last year they landed All-Star Trae Young, Darius Garland, DeMar DeRozan, James Harden, Fred VanVleet, Zach LaVine and LaMelo Ball at guard, with Young and DeRozan as starters.
In the West, with just two spots vacated, several stars who missed the game due to injury in 2022 look set to return: Kawhi Leonard and Paul George of the LA Clippers, Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers, Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers and Clay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors. The same is happening in the East, where they are again available Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons of the Brooklyn Nets.
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Then the season will leave players on the way due to physical problems, but right now it looks more star-studded than last season. Who will be able to enter their name among the stars of the All-Star Game for the first time?
Who could debut in the NBA All-Star Game in the 2022-2023 season?
The big contenders: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jamal Murray
Canada is a powerhouse of NBA talent, and two of its best players have what it takes to earn a spot among the Western Conference All-Stars: it’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets.
Shai, who averaged 24.5 points, 5.9 assists and 5 rebounds per game last season and similar numbers last season, he’s already an All-Star candidate at 24, but he needs the OKC Thunder to be more competitive than the team that he barely won 30.6% and 29.3% of his games in these campaigns.
Murray, for his part, He showed all his talent in the 2020 Playoffs with two 50-point games, but in the next campaign injured his knee in April 2021 and hasn’t played since. Now he is ready to start the season and if he returns to his usual levels he is a great candidate to stand out in the West as one of the best scorers.
With high aspirations: Anthony Edwards, CJ McCollum and Jalen Brunson
Anthony Edwards, just 21 years old, is already a reality in the NBA: He averaged 21.3 points per game last season and raised his average to 25.2 points in the playoff series that the Minnesota Timberwolves lost 4-2 against Memphis Grizzlies. With the Timberwolves bolstered for this run by the arrival of Rudy Gobert, a Ant who continues to improve offensively may make it to the All-Star Game, an event that seems tailor-made for his spectacular game and his charisma.
With 31 years old and seven consecutive seasons with a 20 point average per match or more, CJ McCollum He is one of the longest tenured players in the NBA in decades to never be selected to an All-Star Game. Already in the shadow of Damian Lillard, at the end of last season he made one great job on the new orleans pelicans and if he repeats this level, he is another candidate.
Jaylen Brunson was another player who was a bit in the shadows: in his case something covered by Luka Doncic to the Dallas Mavericks. Now 26 years old and four NBA lessons under his belt, he will finally be able to establish himself as a full-time coach of a team in nothing more and nothing less than New York Knicks, where both success and failure have double or triple the impact elsewhere. If he shows the same ability he did in Dallas and leads the Knicks to victory, he can compete for a spot among the East’s contenders.
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Potential draft picks: Tyler Herro, Christian Wood, Tyrese Maxey, DeAndre Ayton and De’Aaron Fox
Tyler Herro, Christian Wood, Tyrese Maxey, DeAndre Ayton and De’Aaron Fox They are other NBA standout names who have yet to make it past the All-Star Game, though they have yet to gain all of their respective advantages. They’re young players with exposure (and usually capable of production shocking statisticssomething always important to get the general attention of the league) that if they make a qualitative leap this season they might have a chance to feel what it means to be an All-Star for the first time.
The views expressed here do not necessarily represent the NBA or its organizations.
