Victor Wembanyama is an All-Star, 1 of 6 1st-time alternatives

NBA coaches are clearly satisfied: Victor Wembanyama is without doubt one of the league’s best possible gamers.

The San Antonio star and reigning rookie of the yr is an All-Star for the primary time, one of many 14 gamers introduced Thursday evening as members of the reserve pool for the Feb. 16 occasion in San Francisco.

Wembanyama turns into solely the fourth Spurs participant to make the All-Star Recreation in his first or second season. The others: Alvin Robertson in 1986, David Robinson in 1990 and 1991, and Tim Duncan in 1998.

Coaches choose the reserves, after the ten names for the starters pool had been introduced final week via a mixture of fan voting (50%), media voting (25%) and lively participant voting (25%).

There have been seven gamers picked Thursday from every convention. From the Japanese Convention: Boston’s Jaylen Brown, Indiana’s Pascal Siakam, Cleveland’s Darius Garland and Evan Mobley, Detroit’s Cade Cunningham, Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard — final yr’s All-Star MVP — and Miami’s Tyler Herro.

From the West: Wembanyama, Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Anthony Davis, the Los Angeles Clippers’ James Harden, Memphis’ Jaren Jackson Jr., Houston’s Alperen Sengun and Oklahoma Metropolis’s Jalen Williams.

Wembanyama, Cunningham, Mobley, Herro, Sengun and Williams are first-time All-Stars.

There will probably be a minimum of 15 gamers who “begin” on the All-Star Recreation this season. It’s the primary yr of a brand new All-Star format, with three video games. The 24 All-Stars will probably be drafted into three groups of eight gamers apiece by TNT personalities and former NBA greats Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith.

These three groups will probably be entered right into a four-team match, with the remaining squad made up of NBA rookies and second-year gamers from the Rising Stars occasion on All-Star Friday. There are two semifinal video games, with the winners assembly in a championship sport. The video games ought to go rapidly; the primary workforce to succeed in 40 factors wins.

Oklahoma Metropolis coach Mark Daigneault and an assistant from his employees will coach two of the groups, and Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson and one among his assistants will lead the others.

Among the many notable names who didn’t make it: Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball — who narrowly missed out on being picked as a starter, however did not have sufficient coach help to be a reserve — together with Atlanta’s Trae Younger, Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis, Phoenix’s Devin Booker, Dallas’ Kyrie Irving and the Clippers’ Norman Powell.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba