Subscribe
Follow Us
The 2018 NBA All-Star Game starters have been announced and now it’s time to speculate on the reserves. The Inside the NBA crew did just that, as they selected the reserves that they would like to see from each conference.
Hosts Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley made a list of their reserves for the game and shared them on the show.
Looking at their Eastern Conference reserves, the crew could only agree on two players, Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo and New York Knicks forward Kristaps Porzingis.
One player that the crew was debating with Barkley was the selection of Dwight Howard for his team. Shaq; in particular, didn’t think that Howard was deserving of an All-Star bid. — but the history between these two NBA big men may have played a part in O’Neal’s perspective of the Charlotte Hornets’ center.
O’Neal has been critical of Howard ever since he used the Superman title for himself especially during the 2008 Slam Dunk Contest. Howard wore a Superman cape with an emblem on his chest for one of his dunks. O’Neal is a big fan of the Man of Steel and has referred to himself as Superman in more than one occasion.
In contrast to the West, there were five unanimous selections — namely LaMarcus Aldridge, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Klay Thompson. Then again, Russell Westbrook eventually became an unanimous selection as Smith changed his mind as seen in the second image below.
It’s interesting to note that the hosts themselves can’t agree on what the criteria is for choosing an All-Star player, whether they reward winning, stats, or both. When choosing the West All-Stars, this didn’t seem to play as much of a part in the crew’s decision-making but it was a more debatable issue when it came to the East team.
The official announcement of the reserves will be revealed on January 23.
