Victor Wembanyama was named to his first All-Star team Thursday night, one of 14 reserves selected to this year’s midseason showcase in San Francisco on Feb. 16.
Wembanyama, who turned 21 earlier this month, is averaging 24.4 points and 10.8 rebounds for the San Antonio Spurs in his second NBA season and is leading the league in blocks for a second straight year.
After narrowly missing out on one of the spots in the starting lineup for the Western Conference behind LeBron James and Kevin Durant, Wembanyama was an easy choice to lead the West reserves. The seven reserves in each conference were selected by a vote by the league’s coaches after a combination of fans, media and players determined the five starters in each conference.
Joining Wembanyama from the Western Conference were Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis, LA Clippers guard James Harden, Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr., Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun and Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams.
It was the 11th selection for Harden, as well as the 10th for Davis, followed by the third for Edwards and second for Jackson. It was the first selection for Wembanyama, Sengun and Williams.
The Eastern Conference reserves consisted of Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown, Indiana Pacers forward Pascal Siakam, Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland and forward Evan Mobley, Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard and Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro.
Lillard made it for the ninth time, while it was the fourth for Brown, the third for Siakam and the second trip for Garland. Mobley, Cunningham and Herro were all first-time selections.
The Cavaliers — with Garland, Mobley and starter Donovan Mitchell — were the only team to get three players onto this year’s rosters. The Celtics (Brown and Jayson Tatum), Lakers (Davis and James), Thunder (Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) and New York Knicks (Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns) each had two.
The coaches for this year’s All-Star Game will be Mark Daigneault from the Thunder and Kenny Atkinson from the Cavaliers. Because of the change in format this season, which has the 24 All-Stars broken up into three teams of eight-man rosters — plus the winning team from the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday night — one assistant coach from the Thunder and one from the Cavaliers will coach two of the teams.