Ranking the three biggest NBA All-Star starter snubs

Steph Curry over Anthony Edwards

This feels more like a legacy vote for Curry than one based on meritocracy. The veteran Warriors guard is averaging his fewest points (22.6) since 2012-13 (not counting the injured 2019-20 season) and is ranked fourth in made threes. The latter metric is a stunning fall for a player who led the NBA in made threes in three of the last four seasons (2023-24, 2021-22 and 2020-21) and eight of the previous 12.

Anthony Edwards should have won out the starting role over Curry, given the Timberwolves' superior record and his counting stats. 

Curry finished second among West guards in the fan voting, receiving a little over 1.1M more votes than Edwards. He also received more media votes (44 to 30) and player votes (103 to 59). The three ballots were tallied to give Curry a higher weighted score than Edwards.

Kevin Durant over Victor Wembanyama

This is the most egregious of all the snubs. Kevin Durant is still elite at putting the basketball in the hoop, averaging 27.2 points on 52% shooting in his 17th season. His production hasn't resulted in wins, though, with the Suns (22-21) barely staying above .500. 

Wembanyama, on the other hand, is recording better numbers as a sophomore than Shaquille O'Neal, LeBron James and Luka Doncic, and is having the best second year since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1970-71. And his Spurs (20-22) have a fighting chance of ending their five-year postseason drought. 

Furthermore, the Spurs have a superior net rating with Wemby on the floor (plus-3.6) than the Suns have with Durant (0.0). Even LeBron James — the other West frontcourt starter — has been a net negative (minus-3.1) for the Lakers despite putting in his usual counting stats.

Wemby finished fourth among West frontcourt players to miss a spot in the starting unit. He got the second-most votes from media members, but his players (fourth and fan voting (fourth) gave him a lesser-weighted score than Durant and James. 

There's been much chatter about the NBA phasing out Curry, James and Durant to hand the reins of the league to the likes of Wembanyama and Edwards. The league took a step back in that endeavor Thursday by voting in past-their-prime players over the stars of tomorrow.