Russell Westbrook joins Paul George in the 2019 All-Star Game...but

Russell Westbrook has been named an All-Star reserve in this year’s 2019 NBA All-Star Game. The selection will be Westbrook’s 8th, and he will join MVP and Defensive Player of the Year candidate Paul George for the honors.

Westbrook is averaging a triple-double for the third season in a row, averaging a 22-11-11 through 50 games, though as has been well documented, Russ has struggled with his shooting touch for most of year. But he still gets the deserved nod and will join #13 for what should be a festive affair in Charlotte.

All this to say, there is one deserving big man who will not be suiting up for the weekend, and I’ll list out rest of the starters and reserves here without further comment.

Western Conference

Starters

• LeBron James*
• Stephen Curry
• James Harden
• Kevin Durant
• Paul George

Reserves

• Russell Westbrook
• Damian Lillard
• Anthony Davis (will he play, if he won’t be playing again for the rest of the season?)
• Karl-Anthony Towns
• LaMarcus Aldridge
• Nikola Jokic
• Klay Thompson

Eastern Conference

Starters

• Giannis Antetokounmpo*
• Kyrie Irving
• Kemba Walker
• Kawhi Leonard
• Joel Embiid

Reserves

• Bradley Beal
• Ben Simmons
• Kyle Lowry
• Khris Middleton
• Nikola Vucevic
• Blake Griffin
• Victor Oladipo (to be replaced)

*Team captains

OK, maybe just one comment. What would be more memorable in the game — the umpteenth uncontested dunk by Joel Embiid, or Russell Westbrook running Ben Simmons running through Funaki screens over and over again?