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DeMarcus Cousins will be an NBA All-Star ... but it is not this day.
#NBAKings C DeMarcus Cousins @boogiecousins has not been chosen as an All-Star reserve.
— Bryan May (@BMayNews10) January 31, 2014
The NBA announced it's All-Star reserves today and DeMarcus Cousins was not selected by the Coaches as a reserve. Instead, he will have to hope for a spot as an injury replacement to either Kobe Bryant or Chris Paul, and even that isn't a certainty as there are other deserving players in the West that were left off like Tim Duncan, Mike Conley Goran Dragic and Anthony Davis.
Cousins has been putting up All-Star numbers this year. In terms of league-leaders, Cousins is 10th in Points Per Game (22.6), 6th in Rebounds Per Game (11.6), 9th in Steals Per Game (1.8) and 6th in Player Efficiency Rating (26.5).
One big factor against Cousins (aside from the fact that the West is loaded with talent) is the Kings record. They're 15-30 and last in the West. Coaches don't like selecting players from losing teams, even with big numbers.
DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis, if they continue to keep their PERs above 25 and do not make the All-Star team as replacements, will be the first healthy players in NBA history to have a PER that high and not be selected as an All-Star. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O'Neal are the only others, but those were different circumstances: Abdul-Jabbar missed the first 20 games of the season with a broken hand, and Shaq did it in 1998-99 when there was no All-Star game due to lockout.
Personally though, I'm not too upset. I'm just glad that the Kings have a player that's actually worthy of All-Star consideration. That didn't seem like it would be the case last year. DeMarcus has taken a big leap forward this year as a player, and as a fanbase, we're no longer talking about his potential but rather his production. That's progress that I can live with.
Check here for the full NBA All-Star game rosters.
