Getty

The NBA’s newest All-Star Game format should provide fans with a much more spirited and competitive contest. Make that contestS – as in round robin series of shorter games between three rosters of eight All-Stars each. There will be a pair of “Team USA” squads, plus one eight man “Team World” group made up of foreign born players.

Fan voting for the All-Star rosters is ongoing, and still being done on an “East” and “West” basis, so it’s difficult to say who is in the lead for the three roster spots based on current tabulations.

The new format is not exactly playing for your country like say, in the Olympics. It is, however, comparable to golf’s Ryder Cup competition, which never lacks for competitive fire from the American team or the Europeans. No telling how the two American hoops teams will compete with one another, but you can bet neither group will want to lose to the non-Americans.

International Team Will Feature Multiple MVP Winners

And on paper, the international team would appear to have a pretty sizable advantage.

Part of the advantage just sheer size, given that the big men projected to play in the game include Denver’s three-time Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic, two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks, future MVP Victor Wembanyama from the San Antonio Spurs and perhaps former MVP Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers. Add in newbie Alperen Sengun from Houston as well. And while he’s not a center, you can be sure that Indiana Pacers forward Pascal Siakam is pretty much a lock, too.

Since the selections are NOT being made with positions involved, in theory, there could be eight “bigs” and no guards on Team World.

That won’t be the case of course. Reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Dončić are both locks to be part of the international great eight, provided they’re healthy.

If those eight players are all chosen to be part of Team World, that doesn’t leave any spots left for all the other worthy international standouts. And it a long list.

Can Jamal Murray Earn his First All-Star Nod?

Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, who like SGA is from Canada, is most certainly having an All-Star worthy season. He’s averaging 25 points per game, and his rebounds and assists totals are up as well. He’s already had a 50-point game, and with starters Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun sidelined with injuries over the past month, he’s had to pick up the slack, especially when Jokic isn’t on the floor. With the Nuggets still winning at a .750 clip, it’s clearly been working.

The question is, has it been working well enough for Murray to earn his first All-Star game selection over some of the notable names already listed? Can a guard crack a roster of SGA, Luca and those uber-talented big men?

More bigs that could join the international team include standout scorer Lauri Markkanen of the Utah Jazz, who has also been having a great season that includes a scoring average of 28 points per and a 51-point outburst against Phoenix in late October. As far as guards go, Murray would have competition from Chicago’s Josh Giddy, among others.

There’s still a lot of season to go and games to be played before the rosters are finalized. Unfortunately, there will be injuries that factor into roster selection, too. If Murray can stay healthy and continue on his current trek, this will be his best chance so far in his decade long career to be selected to be an All-Star.

Mark Knudson Mark is a former MLB pitcher for the Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers and Colorado Rockies. He’s the only person ever to play high school, college and professional baseball in Colorado. Mark earned a BA in Technical Journalism from Colorado State University and has worked in radio, television and print sports media since 1994. He’s the co-author of “Pitching to the Corners” with former teammate Don August and the author of “Just Imagine,” a historical fiction novel about The Beatles.
Mark is currently a feature writer and columnist for Mile High Sports in Denver and recently joined the team at Heavy.com. Mark is also a high school baseball coach in the Denver area. More about Mark Knudson

More Heavy on Nuggets

Loading more stories