9 breakout players poised to make their first NBA All-Star appearance

The Eastern Conference hasn’t been the more dominant of the two conferences in decades, but this season it’s certainly been the more entertaining conference.

Teams like the Pistons and Magic, who we thought would be the bottom feeders of the conference, are currently sitting near the top. Teams we thought would to dominate, like the Cavaliers, are sitting at the bottom. The entire conference is upside down.

With good teams come good players. Just as we thought many of the teams in the East would stink, so too did we expect fewer All-Star candidates than usual. But, like their teams, many players are off to fast starts and perhaps making leaps we didn’t know they could.

Some are obvious All-Star candidates, but others we would have never expected to step up and be great. Yet here we are, in a weird world where we may not have enough All-Star spots in the East to accommodate deserving first-timers.

Who are we talking about, exactly?

There are a few players we fully expect to make their first All-Star team this season. Here they are.

It’s always just been a matter of health for Embiid. Had he remained healthy, he probably would’ve finished the season as an All-NBA caliber player.

He’s the only player in league history to average at least 20.5 points and 10.1 rebounds per game while playing 28 minutes or fewer per game. Embiid has made history in the 40 games he played. The only sound argument you can use against him is that he hasn’t played enough.

The OG Unicorn himself has played his way into an all-but-assured All-Star spot just nine games into the season. Porzingis has baked virtually every single opponent he’s gone up against this season, including the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night, when he dropped a career-high 40 points.

Like Embiid, Porzingis has put himself in some rare company this season, too.

These are the players you thought should’ve been All-Stars sooner but never quite made the cut for one reason or another, be it position or team record.

Beal has scored at least 36 points in the Wizards’ last three games, including a win over the Raptors on Sunday night without John Wall. He’s averaging nearly 26 points per game this season on 50 percent shooting and is hitting from the best spots on the floor.

The flashes he showed at the beginning of his career have become the norm for him. He was passed up as an All-Star last season and wasn’t selected over Carmelo Anthony as a replacement, but if he keeps this play up, he won’t have to worry about needing to replace someone to get in.

Porter was one of the most efficient players in the league last season and scorched the nets from three. He’s doing the same this season but all while taking more shots.

Porter is averaging 18.3 points per game this season, shooting 52 percent from deep, and is averaging 2.3 steals per game. He’s been great for the Wizards on both ends of the floor and has been their most consistent player through the first nine games of the season.

With all the star power that remained in the East last season, it was difficult to see a scenario where Porter could’ve actually made the All-Star game. But with Paul George, Carmelo Anthony, and Jimmy Butler in the West, he has as good a chance as ever.

I know what you’re thinking: “He’s only a rookie.” But we can all see that he plays the game like a 10-year veteran.

What rookie makes this pass?

Are we sure this isn’t LeBron James?

We’re just nine games into his NBA career and he already has two triple-doubles. The only other player to do that in league history is Oscar Robertson.

He’s averaging 18 points, nearly 10 rebounds, and more than eight assists through nine games, and he has much more room to grow. This kid is going to be one of the best players in the world someday, so an All-Star berth in his first season ever doesn’t seem so far-fetched.

These are the players few expected to be in this conversation, but they’re here and they might be serious.

RUSSELL WESTBROOK WAS HOLDING HIM BACK THE ENTIRE TIME.

Seriously, Oladipo has been so good this season. He’s scoring like crazy and doing it efficiently.

Remember when he couldn’t shoot? He’s hitting 45 percent of his threes on more than five and a half attempts per game this season. He’s also scoring nearly 24 points per game. His fast start might not be real, but it’s certainly fun for now and keeping the Pacers afloat.

Did I mention that he already has more game winners than Paul George in his Pacers career?

Aside from Andre Drummond’s improved free-throw shooting, Tobias Harris has been the biggest revelation for the Pistons this season. Harris took a step forward last season as a scorer, but he’s taken his efficiency to another level this season.

Just look at all this green.

Harris just hasn’t really missed from the outside this season. He’s hit everything from mid-range and has played well enough at the rim and in the paint to be an above-average scorer.

He’s hitting tough jump shots, but he’s always been a tough-shot taker. The Pistons needed him to make those shots more consistently, so now that he is, they’re currently second in the Eastern Conference. Sounds like an All-Star to me.

Most people know Aaron Gordon from the dunk contest, but he’s been the best player on the Orlando Magic this season, and they’re sitting in the third spot in the Eastern Conference.

After a failed experiment playing small forward last season, Gordon shifted back to his original position as the Magic’s power forward and has flourished. He’s shooting 56 percent from three-point range and is scoring more than 19 points per game — way above his previous career high of 12.7.

Plus, he already had one of the most electric 40-point games this season.

If he keeps shooting like this it’ll be hard to exclude him come February.

Gordon’s teammate has always been an excellent offensive player without getting much attention for it, though he struggled last year. But this season, he’s become a bit more than a quiet producer. He’s shooting threes for the first time in his career and is making 40 percent of them.

He’s always been a solid scorer, but the floor spacing and efficiency haven’t always been there for him. Now that he’s hitting from outside, the rest of the Magic players have more room to thrive offensively.

He should also get some type of recognition for this A1 tweet.