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Tim MacMahon
SAN FRANCISCO — Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker, one of several prominent All-Star snubs, believes it’s time for the NBA to expand rosters for the league’s midseason showcase.
Teams have been allowed to have 15 active players since the 2020-21 season, but the All-Star rosters remain limited to 12 players from each conference.
Booker, a four-time All-Star who is averaging 25.5 points and 6.7 assists per game, would be on board with expanding All-Star rosters to 15 to match the limit for the league’s teams.
“I think there’s enough talented guys out here that are deserving,” Booker said after Friday’s shootaround at the Chase Center. “I mean, you look at Kyrie [Irving], Norman Powell, those guys are having unbelievable, efficient years and winning games. And on the East, I’m sure there’s guys too like Trae [Young] and LaMelo [Ball] that are just putting up unheard of numbers. So the more talent in there, the better I think.”
Seven of the league’s top 20 scorers were not selected for the All-Star Game, a list that includes Charlotte‘s Ball, Philadelphia‘s Tyrese Maxey, Phoenix’s Booker, Sacramento‘s De’Aaron Fox, Dallas‘ Irving, the Clippers‘ Powell and Chicago‘s Zach LaVine.
NBA rebounding leader Domantas Sabonis was not selected despite averaging 20.9 points and 6.6 assists in addition to his league-high 14.5 rebounds per game for the Kings. Neither was Atlanta‘s Trae Young, who leads the league with 11.4 assists per game and averages 22.5 points.
Ball, who ranks fourth in scoring (28.2 points per game) and ninth in assists (7.3) for the 12-32 Hornets, didn’t make the cut despite getting the most fan votes among Eastern Conference backcourt players. He became the first player to lead his position group in fan voting to not be named an All-Star since voting changed in 2016-17 to also factor in media and player voting to determine starters.
All-Star reserves are selected via anonymous voting by coaches.
“Obviously it’s something that I wanted to be a part of, but definitely not going to complain about taking a week to regroup with the family,” Booker said. “So it’s always going to be the conversation every year. Who got snubbed? Who didn’t? And there’s a lot of people that are deserving.”
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