No player in the NBA averages more points than Joel Embiid right now. The Philadelphia 76ers big man is averaging 33.4 points per game on very good efficiency (64.1 true shooting percentage, which ranks 21st in the league), leading his squad to the second-best record in the Eastern Conference. However, he has not yet secured his spot in the 2023 All-Star Game.

Embiid came in fourth in voting for the Eastern Conference frontcourt, meaning he just missed the cutoff for the starting lineup. Jayson Tatum, Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo beat him out for the three spots. There are a few reasons to explain why Embiid lost out on a starting spot but none of them really do justice.

While one of the four aforementioned superstars had to get snubbed — a ridiculous reality that will be addressed later — Embiid falling out of the starting lineup is absolute lunacy. The Sixers star has been one of the very best players in the entire league throughout the 2022-23 season.

Again, Joel Embiid is the league's leading scorer and will very likely be the East's leader by the time All-Star Weekend rolls around. His numbers are arguably better than any of the guys who beat him. Among those four players, he averages the most points, most blocks, most steals and second-most rebounds. He has the second-highest true shooting percentage and is arguably the most impactful defender of the group. Team records aren't great to use here since all of the teams' records are all so close but at the time of the final tally for the All-Star starters, Embiid's Sixers were second in the conference only to Tatum's Boston Celtics.

For months, fans and media figures alike saw Embiid, Durant, Tatum and Antetokounmpo as the four players most deserving to represent the East in the All-Star Game's starting lineup. One of them had to get snubbed because the rules allow only three spots for frontcourt players. While Embiiid getting snubbed is particularly egregious, seeing any of the other three get snubbed would have also been maddening.

For an event like the All-Star Game — an exhibition contest where fans just want to see the best players, which is precisely what the festivities celebrate — position requirements are unnecessary. Starting lineups should reflect the best talent, not a lineup that has a proper balance. Joel Embiid got more votes from fans and fellow players than Kyrie Irving and Donovan Mitchell yet both guards will start over him simply because the lineup requires two guards.

Some day soon, we could easily see the inverse happen. If one of the conferences sees three guards each separate themselves from the pack, fans and media figures will groan at one of them being snubbed from the All-Star starting lineup. Having some positional balance across the entire All-Star lineup in each conference is perfectly fine. But for the starters, there should be none. Just make it the five players who perform the best in voting, please.

Joel Embiid is not at all in jeopardy of missing an All-Star nomination entirely, of course, as coaches will certainly vote him in as a reserve. But his ouster from the All-Star starting lineup, which he has occupied for the last five years, shows that it is truly time to make changes to the game's format. Having only five starting lineup spots will already guarantee that some players will be snubbed. The NBA shouldn't impose restrictions that lead to more, especially when a player of Embiid's magnitude is worse off because of it.