NBA All-Star roster snubs 2017: The 5 biggest omissions from New Orleans

There are only 24 All-Stars each year, besides the occasional injury replacement. That means there will always be snubs from the roster, even if some are more egregious than others.

Chris Paul is this year’s biggest snub. Paul is injured, missing 6-8 weeks after undergoing thumb surgery last week, so it’s possible that factored into the decision. Still, even if he required a replacement for injury, Paul clearly deserved to be selected to the Western Conference second-team.

Other snubs include Joel Embiid, who took his snub as an opportunity to fire off more Twitter jokes. (To be fair, he takes most things as an opportunity for Twitter jokes.) Embiid’s weighted stats clearly give him a more than qualified case, although you could deduct points for his missed games and limited minutes.

All-Star starters were announced last week before the reserves were released on Thursday. You can click here for all the starters and reserves, as well as other participants who have been announced for All-Star weekend for both conferences.

While Paul may currently be injured, he has still played 36 games for the Los Angeles Clippers at the typical point god level of play we’ve come to expect from him.

Paul’s averaging about 18 points and 10 assists with the Clippers while boasting the best efficiency of his career. He currently has a 61.1 true shooting percentage, which if sustained would be the first time in his career he has finished over 60 percent.

Los Angeles started as well as they ever have before losing steam and seeing Blake Griffin go down. Paul kept the Clippers afloat, although now Los Angeles has serious questions about how far they’ll fall while waiting on Griffin’s return without Paul. Still, based on his body of work thus far this year, Paul clearly was deserving to make the reserves ... and didn’t.

Most of the blame for Embiid’s snub is falling on Paul Millsap, who is admittedly a boring choice. Kevin Love may be the player more deserving of your Twitter shame, though, simply because the gap between his and Embiid’s defense is so wide.

Embiid’s flaws are clear: he has only played 30 games this season while averaging 25 minutes. That is fewer games than Paul, but also significantly fewer minutes. The other thing hurting Embiid is that he may have turned a few coaches (who vote on reserves) against him by shamelessly promoting his All-Star candidacy. We love it, to be clear, but old grouchy men are prone to hating fun.

But Embiid’s raw numbers are incredible: he’s averaging 19.8 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks while being the only Sixer who has a positive plus-minus when on the floor. Our own Tom Ziller goes deeper on Embiid’s failed but deserving candidacy.

Dame is consistently the best player who isn’t quite good enough to make the All-Star cut. This is his third straight year not being selected to the team (though he was an injury reserve in 2015), and it’s clearly something that motivates him.

We’re of two minds: Lillard is an All-Star worthy player, but his team has dramatically underperformed this year and it’s hard to argue that he should have made it over any of the players who did end up on the team this season. That said, how often do you see a player averaging more than 26 points not named an All-Star?

This would have been Anthony’s 10th All-Star appearance in his 15-year career. His numbers are good, leading the team in scoring even as Kristaps Porzingis takes a much larger share of the offense. Unfortunately, it’s also been a tumultuous year in New York for Anthony as the Knicks have struggled as of late. That resulted in a sit-down conversation between Anthony and Phil Jackson regarding his future as a Knick. Who knows what will transpire there.

Anthony has a more deserving case than another missing Banana Boater, Dwyane Wade. He’s certainly been an All-Star regular over the years. It’s not an egregious snub, but you could certainly lobby for his inclusion yet again this year if you really wish.

Interestingly, DeAndre Jordan made the Western Conference team this year, trading the biggest snub for a borderline Clipper instead. There’s no doubt Jordan is a hugely important cog for what Los Angeles does, and perennially underrated. But is he better than Rudy Gobert?

It’s actually a very close argument. Most of their raw stats line up pretty closely:

Having watched Gobert’s impact in Utah recently, I’d lean toward him over Jordan this season. (Long-term, you’d clearly take the younger Gobert, but this is an award based only on this season.) It’s not quite the snub I envisioned before looking closely into both players, though, who share striking similarities this season.

Two young big men, one in each conference — Karl-Anthony Towns and Kristaps Porzingis — should both join the All-Star hierarchy in the very near future for a long time to come. They both had cases to make it this year, although it’s no huge surprise they were left out.

Bradley Beal is having a career year in Washington. It makes sense why he fell short, but he’s a player you’d love to sneak in during the injury replacements.

And poor Zaza Pachulia will never make it with the new rules now. Never forget that KOBE ROBBED HIM last season and I will never forgive him for that.