NBA players who could be first time All-Stars in 2023-24

Jalen Brunson should have been a starter over Damian Lillard if we're being honest. If he somehow doesn't end up on this year's roster, New Yorkers should riot! In addition to being the best player on a 30-17 team, Brunson's numbers are certainly All-Star worthy this season: 26.6 PPG, 6.5 APG with 48-43-84 shooting splits in 44 games. He's an All-Star player and has a good shot at making an All-NBA team.

Wait, how is this possible? The second-best player in last year's playoffs hasn't even made an All-Star team yet? Well, most of this comes down to Jamal Murray's injury luck (or lack thereof - he tore his ACL in 2020-21, missed 2021-22 and wasn't completely healthy until midway through the 202-23 season) and the fact that Murray is a playoff player. In fact, in his 53 career playoff games, he's averaging 25 PPG, 6.3 APG, 5 RPG with 47-40-91 shooting splits. It's fair to assume that he'll receive the benefit of the doubt from the coaches choosing the bench players in the Western Conference.

This year's Most Improved Player frontrunner, Tyrese Maxey, is in a crowded backcourt in the East, but certainly deserves to be an All-Star this season. Maxey has exploded onto the scene after the James Harden trade put the ball in his hands. He's responded beautifully, averaging 25.7 PPG, 6.6 APG on 45-37-86 shooting splits. He, along with MVP-favorite, Joel Embiid, have been arguably the league's best duo this season.

The 2022-23 Rookie of the Year, Paolo Banchero, will definitely be an All-Star player - probably even an All-NBA player - sooner, rather than later in his career. He'd be on my All-Star roster for the Eastern Conference as he's carried the young Magic for much of this season, averaging 22.7 PPG, 6.9 RPG and 4.9 APG with 45-35-70 shooting splits. The Magic have been one of the pleasant surprises this season and are 24-22, much in part due to Banchero's brilliance.

Scottie Barnes has made a big enough leap this season to certainly garner All-Star buzz. After a stellar rookie year, but a stagnant sophomore season, Barnes is back on the trajectory that once made him untouchable in a potential Kevin Durant deal. Barnes has made huge strides as a shooter (he's making 36.3 percent of this threes after shooting 29 percent in his first two seasons...and he's doing it on double the volume), passer (he's up to 5.7 APG after 4.2 APG his first two years) and a rebounder (he's up to 8.3 RPG after 7.1 RPG his first two seasons). Toronto's ugly record (16-30) may ultimately keep him out of this year's game.

Let's do a blind comparison...One of the players below is Desmond Bane from last season; one is a surefire Hall-of-Famer during his five-year prime. Can you name the player?

Player A: 21.6 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 2.4 APG on 47-42-86 shooting splits

Player B: 24.4 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 5.3 APG on 47-38-86 shooting splits

Player A was Klay Thompson from 2015 to 2019; Player B is Desmond Bane this season. Thompson was an All-Star in all five of those seasons. Obviously, there's been an even greater offensive boom in recent years, but the point of this comparison is to show that Bane is closer to being an All-Star than you might think.

Before the season, I thought Josh Giddey might be the next of the young Thunder players to make the leap into All-Stardom. Whoops! Turns out, it was Jalen Williams that I should have been keying on as he's been a stud two-way player and the best isolation player in basketball from a statistical standpoint. On the season, he's averaging 18.6 PPG, 4.5 APG and 4.1 RPG with ultra efficient 54-44-82 shooting splits. Just an excellent young player.

Before the season, I stated the following: "If Holmgren were to put up an 18 PPG, 10 RPG, 4 APG, 2 BPG type of line, and the Thunder were in the mix at the top of the West, then he'd certainly be a potential All-Star." Guess what? The Thunder are one of the best teams in the NBA, and Holmgren is averaging 17 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 2.7 APG, and 2.5 BPG, and doing it on efficient shooting (54-38-77 splits). Will he make the team? I think he gets squeezed this season, but he has an argument.

Alperen Sengun's All-Star case is similar to Paolo Banchero's case - he's the best player on a competitive team that is a year ahead of schedule. The young Rockets are right on the fringe of the playoff picture, and Sengun's leap has been one of the main reasons. For the season, he's averaging 21.7 PPG, 9.2 RPG and 5 APG while shooting 54.1 percent from the field. His game is also very aesthetically-pleasing and very reminiscent to Nikola Jokic's game. 

Though his teammate, Paolo Banchero, is a better bet to be an All-Star this season, Franz Wagner is not that far behind. Wagner had a nice third season, averaging 20.4 PPG, 5.7 RPG and 3.9 APG. He's seen a big drop in his three-point efficiency (down to 30.3 percent after 35.8 percent in his first two seasons), so that, and Orlando's good but not great record, will probably keep him on the outside looking in.

Mikal Bridges has been solid this season, but he's probably on the outside looking in for this year's All-Star team. He's been good for the Nets - 21.7 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 3.7 APG with 45-36-83 shooting splits through 45 games - but there's just too many players putting up better numbers around the league. Bridges' defense should "bridge" that gap, but nobody really watches the All-Star Game for defense. 

If Tyler Herro made the All-Star Team this season, it'd be one of the best stories of the season and one of the ultimate "chip on the shoulder" responses to being openly shopped in trade rumors all summer. Will he make the team, though? Eh, probably not. Not because Herro isn't good - he's a very good offensive guard and has averaged 21.6 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 4.1 APG with 44-40-85 shooting splits this season). It's just that there are so many dynamic scoring guards in today's NBA that he'd probably have to bump his scoring up another three or four points to get the All-Star nod.

While it's damn near impossible for a rookie to make an All-Star team his rookie season - the last one to do it was Blake Griffin (which was actually his second season under contract as he'd missed his entire rookie year) - anyone who has watched Victor Wembanyama this year understands why he's on this list. He's a walking highlight reel and has put up borderline All-Star numbers: 20.5 PPG, 10.1 RPG, 3.1 APG, 3.1 BPG (league leader) and 1.1 SPG. The thing that will hold him back is the Spurs' terrible record.

Ironically, the fact that Terry Rozier was recently traded from the lowly Hornets to the Heat probably put an end to his All-Star candidacy because he'll be in an entirely different role with the latter and, thus, put up "worse" numbers. Before he was traded, Rozier was averaging an impressive 23.2 PPG, 6.6 APG and had 46-36-85 shooting splits.

There was a stretch earlier this season when it looked like Derrick White might make the All-Star team as a superstar role player. Both he and the Celtics have cooled down a bit since that hot streak, but he's still having a great season, averaging 15.6 PPG, 4.7 APG, 4.1 RPG with 46-40-90 shooting splits. He's a major part of the Celtics' 35-11 record, which is the best in the league.