Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily. I'm Dave DuFour, here with Espera Henney, Zena Keita. We're still in Vegas for the NBA Cup, which by now you know what's happened. But we're recording this ahead of time. We're talking All-Stars, our two early All-Stars, to celebrate the opening of All-Star voting. Before we jump into our teams, I do want to talk LeBron James.
In what is not an all-star season. As one does. Yeah. Because this is, I mean, it's not going to be his last year, I don't think. I assume we would know ahead of time. But he missed a significant chunk at the start of the season. And so there's no way you can say what he's done on the court puts him in the all-star category, period. He's going to get in. Fan vote.
I don't think these guys is going to get... But none of us had him on our list as an all-star. I mean, there's just no argument there whatsoever. But how could you?
I didn't have him on my list as a, I guess you could say, credible.
Right, right.
But I had him on my list from the...
sheer factor that the nba is not going to have an all-star without him especially at this point of his career and the fact that they're consistently changing things each year they need some sort of constant and lebron james is an all-star i think provides you and it's in la and it's in and it's in la and it's a fan game so like that in mind guys let's let's talk about our western all-stars we know lebron's going to be there yeah but i i want to talk first about the locks like
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Chapter 2: What are the early All-Star picks for the Western Conference?
The players that we just agree on, the unanimous selections, and it's probably the majority of this team because it's pretty obvious. Shea Gilders, Alexander. Yep. Front runner for MVP, obviously, Nikola Jokic. Yep. I think Victor Wimbinyama. Yep. Absolutely. Luka Doncic, who I think he just scored another 40 points. 40 points, yep. Steph Curry. Yes. Yes.
Who, again, another 40-point game from him. With a loss. Most... Over Michael Jordan, right? Yeah, officially. Anthony Edwards. Yes. Unanimous selection there. Alperin Shingun.
Chapter 3: Why is LeBron James considered a lock for the All-Star game?
Unanimous. Yes. Again, we're on it here. Kevin Durant. Yep, they get two. They do get two. And Jamal Murray. Jamal Murray.
I don't know if he's a lock. He's not a lock, but he is.
We all know the selection here. I mean, this is and again, one of the things we talked about coming into the season for the Nuggets that was super important for Jamal Murray, especially this is the year that you put up or shut up. They just made this huge overhaul to the roster. It's paid off, even though Christian Brown and Aaron Gordon have missed significant time.
It's the best start in Nuggets history. And it's because Jamal Murray from the jump. He didn't play his way into shape like he has now.
Yeah, he's averaging a career-high in points, career-high in assists, doing it exactly how efficiently you want him to. The Jokic-Murray two-man game is literally one of the most unstoppable plays in basketball, if not the most. That 52-point game where he went 10 of 11 from three. Exactly. This is his best season, and he's healthy, so I think he should be in all of that.
And the biggest thing we've talked about this before, Dave, on the pod, like it's the fact that he's not having these games where he dips away, where he's not a factor, where you're kind of like, what's going on with Jamal Murray? And that's what's happened in the previous years. That's why he's lacked the all-star credibility in the past.
And people are now seeing consistency from him and impacting winning every single night. And that's great.
And he's able to lead those bench units.
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Chapter 4: Who are the All-Star locks in the Western Conference?
Yeah. Right. And that's been a game changer for them to not lose those minutes. So, again, all star back to 2020 swagger. Yeah. Oh, yeah. OK. Now we might get into some debate here down toward the bottom of the list. I'm going to I'm going to say Devin Booker is an all star. I agree. All right. Did he also make your list? He was an honorable mention. Okay, so he's close, okay?
The argument there is that the Suns have been this great story.
They are exceeding expectations by basically all measures. They're a very good offensive team. Devin Booker is a big part of that. I actually thought of Dylan Brooks as like an honorable mention just because it's like 21 points. That's why I struggle. This is the Canadian thing. But this is, no, it's not even just a Canadian thing. He can't get in, but it's an honorable mention.
Exactly, and that's why I struggled. I'm like, both of those players, of course Devin Booker has been leading this team. But both of them have Dylan Brooks has come in and single-handedly like change the culture. I feel like a Phoenix. I feel like that deserves some love that deserves some recognition of some sort. And that's why I struggled to just be like outright Devin Booker. You get it.
Cause it's, I was going to say the French word for shared. It's shared between the two.
Would you guys watch Dylan Brooks in like the skills competition? No, no, no, no. Three point contest.
He could be in the three point contest. I could see him. Yeah.
Well, they're going to find a Clipper to go in there. Somebody from the Clippers has got to be in the building. And I guess three-point contest. They'll figure that out.
Look, with Booker, the thing I would say is, one, they're very good offensively this year. He's a big part of that. And I think they've put him back in a role that makes sense for him with tons of guard play, good shooting. Their system makes sense. And that's why Booker is having a bounce back here. Yeah. I think he's in there, but he's not a lock. Also, he's hurt, so we'll see.
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Chapter 5: What players are on the fringes of being All-Star selections?
They put up numbers. No way. Cooper Flagg just scored 40 on them. Yeah, okay. But the Jazz don't want to win games. And I will hold that against Larry Markin a little bit. Somebody's got to score the points there, and he's going to do it. Keontae George has been doing it. He's been great. But Larry, he's been fantastic. And I think that, you know, if he winds up getting traded,
I think that he's an all-star next year if he's on a better team. Who? Larry Markkinen. He's an all-star level player.
I think the grace that was given to Larry Markkinen making an all-star before is the same one that I would give to Denny Avdia. That's fair.
Yeah. That's how I would perceive it. The other honorable mention I throw in there that I just couldn't rationalize because it would be hard to put two Timberwolves on there. But Julius Randle is having a very, very good season. Like scoring the ball efficiently. He's been one of their, obviously, focal points on the offensive end. The decision-making has been good from him this year.
I just ā it's hard to put two Timberwolves on there. You guys haven't said another person I had. Oh, who else? De'Aaron Fox. The injury stuff made it so that it's hard to put him on there. But I agree with you. He's been awesome. He's been playing great.
He's been amazing. And he's been putting up numbers and ā The Spurs are good. Yeah. I mean, we won't know this at the moment that we're reporting this, but they could be the NBA Cup champions behind Aaron Fox.
I don't know. Yeah, I don't have Fox, and it's because just he missed so much time. Sure. And now, that being said, this is the too early All-Stars. I think maybe we get another month into the season. Yeah. And a number of these guys are just not going to be available for whatever reason, whether it's injury or otherwise. So, you know, we know we're going to have like 40 all-star players.
So that's the nice thing is anybody we left off the list, they're going to make it anyway. Probably going to make it. Yeah. Guys, stick around. After the break, we're going to go to the east where I think we have some controversy. And we're back talking about the All-Stars way too early, guys. Yep. Way too early. Still months left.
But this is what makes it fun.
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