A player's first All-Star appearance is a right of passage of sorts. It puts the league on notice, and gives players from small markets a chance to establish themselves on a national stage. Whether it's a new coach, better surrounding talent or simply a year-two leap, some sort of shift occurs that allows a young star-in-the-making to go from good to great. Here are three players who will make that leap in the 2021-22 season.
LaMelo Ball
The reigning Rookie of the Year is already the best player on the Charlotte Hornets. LaMelo Ball is a wizard of a passer, a crafty finisher and a surprisingly solid shooter (35.2% from deep last season on 5.1 attempts per game last season) at just 20 years old. The Hornets went .500 in the 40 games he played before injuring his wrist against the LA Clippers back in March. If Ball and Gordon Hayward can both stay healthy, Kelly Oubre fits in well and Miles Bridges takes a leap himself, the Hornets will no-doubt be in the Eastern Conference playoff race and therefore be deserving of an All-Star.
Ball will be fighting for an All-Star roster spot with the likes of James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Bradley Beal and Ben Simmons. He'll need to increase his scoring output, lock in on defense and limit his turnovers if he hopes to separate himself.
Ja Morant
The case could've been made for Ja Morant as an All-Star in both of his first two seasons in the NBA, but the Western Conference is just so stacked that the 2020 Rookie of the Year was one of the odd men out twice (he finished seventh in total voting score among Western Conference backcourt players in 2020, and sixth in 2021). Last season, the Memphis Grizzlies made the Play-In tournament as a no. 9 seed, finishing the season with a solid 38-34 record. Unlike last year, Jaren Jackson Jr. will be coming into this season healthy, but the Grizzlies will be losing a bit of an offensive punch going from Jonas Valenciunas to Steven Adams at center. Even so, there's no reason Memphis cannot continue to progress as a solid playoff team.
Morant was an absolute stud last year in the postseason, averaging 30.2 points and 8.2 assists through five games against the no. 1-seeded Utah Jazz. Morant can't be asked to recreate that level of play on a nightly basis, but even 85% of that production should net him an All-Star nod and put him on par with the likes of Donovan Mitchell and Devin Booker.
John Collins
Collins has been quietly putting up All-Star numbers in the Eastern Conference for several years now. His counting stats fell off a bit last season as the Atlanta Hawks added more talent, but 17.6 points and 7.4 rebounds on 55.6%/39.9%/83.3% shooting splits is quite a feat for the 23-year-old. Now that Collins has secured his bag (five years, $125 million), perhaps he'll flourish as a true no. 2 option next to Trae Young.
The Hawks exceeded everyone's expectations last year, knocking out the Philadelphia 76ers and reaching the Eastern Conference Finals. If they can build on this success and maintain a top-four seed in the East, voters (likely the coaches, who select the reserves) might feel that Atlanta is deserving of two All-Stars. The Eastern Conference front court is stacked (Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid's names can all be written in pen if they're healthy) but Collins could take the spot of a Nikola Vucevic or a Domantas Sabonis if he puts up solid enough numbers.