CLEVELAND — On Monday afternoon, the National Basketball Association named the injury replacements for the All-Star Game coming to Cleveland in two weeks, and once again, they got it all wrong—snubbing Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen from a much-deserved spot on the roster.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball and San Antonio Spurs guard Dejounte Murray as the injury replacements for the game, with previously selected Celtics forward Jayson Tatum replacing Kevin Durant as a starter, Ball serving as the new reserve, and Murray replacing Warriors forward Draymond Green as a reserve.
Silver needed to pick a reserve from the Western Conference to replace Green, who has a calf injury, and a reserve from the Eastern Conference to replace Durant, who has a knee injury. Ball served as the replacement in the East over Allen.
While Ball is averaging 19.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 1.47 steals per game this season, the reserves in the East featured no bigs in the selections, and it seemed almost inevitable Allen would get the nod to replace Durant.
Allen is averaging 16.2 points, 11.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game this season—and proved his All-Star caliber on Friday night after being snubbed from the All-Star reserve announcements the night before, putting up 29 points and 22 rebounds in a dominant outing.
His performance carried into Sunday night's win over the Pacers that saw Allen put up a double-double with 15 points and 17 rebounds in addition to his two blocks.
RELATED: Jarrett Allen proves he was an All-Star snub in Cavs 102-101 win over Hornets
Still, that apparently wasn't enough for the league, which is opting to leave out a star player who has worked tirelessly to earn the All-Star honors.
“He’s an All-Star, there's no doubt in my mind," teammate Kevin Love said after Allen was snubbed in the reserve announcements. "For JA, I was definitely gutted because I thought he was more than deserving.”
Jarrett Allen better be a damn replacement I know that!!!
— Kevin Love (@kevinlove) February 4, 2022
Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff shared similar sentiments.
"Personally, I think Jarrett got snubbed. You look at what he's done over the year, and there's no real way to justify him not making it," Bickerstaff said Friday. "If we respect winning the way we say we respect winning, there's no way that Jarrett Allen doesn't make the All-Star team...we're extremely disappointed that he didn't make it, but we know who Jarrett is, and he's going to go out and continue to prove people wrong and play with that chip and that edge."
But despite not making the All-Star roster, Allen is taking it all in stride and focusing on the rest of the season with his eyes set on the Cavs making a run in the playoffs.
“At first I was disappointed, but then you got to look at the league,
it’s a machine that keeps on going," Allen said after being left off the reserves announcement. "So, it’s like, do I either sulk that I didn’t make the game or do I just keep looking forward and keep playing my basketball?”
While Allen didn't get the All-Star honors, the Cavs will still be represented in the game by Darius Garland, who is making his first All-Star appearance. He'll find out his team on Thursday during the NBA All-Star Draft.
RELATED: Darius Garland announced as All-Star reserve
Camryn Justice is a digital content producer at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on Twitter @camijustice.
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