Unfortunately, it was no surprise that Damian Lillard didn't get voted in as an All-Star starter for the 2023 event when the final tallies were announced last week on TNT. He's never made the year exhibition via vote of the fans, players (at least those who bother to submit ballots) and media despite the best effort in Rip City. That doesn't stop anyone from trying, but after 11 seasons, Lillard has never gotten all that close to being named a starter, though he has been named an All-Star six times.
But it would be legitimately shocking if Lillard wasn't named to his seventh All-Star team when reserves, which are selected via coaches vote, are announced this Thursday on TNT. While it hasn't resulted in as many wins as anyone would like, Lillard is having one of his best statistical seasons by averaging 30.1 points on 46 percent shooting from the field, 37 percent shooting from three and 90 percent shooting from the line for a true shooting percentage of 64 percent, 7.3 assists, 4.0 rebounds and nearly an assist per game while ranking sixth in estimated plus/minus and is tenth in PER. And he was just named Western Conference Player of the Week after averaging 42.3 points on 63 percent shooting and 7.7 assists while the Blazers went 2-1 last week. Portland certainly has some issues to address -- they're in 12th in the West with a little more than 30 games to play -- but Dame isn't one of them.
So he's got, as he recently put it, the body of work to make the 2023 All-Star Game, which will be held on Feb. 19 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, and it seems as though the people who follow these things the closest tend to agree. Of all the predictions for which players would be named to the All-Star rosters this season, I could find only one that does NOT have Lillard making the cut for what would be his seventh All-Star selection. Lillard had to take his All-Star lumps earlier in his career -- he's at least one short of the All-Star selections he's deserved during his previous 10 seasons, possibly two -- but all indications are that those days are behind him. He's reached the point where you have to argue why he should NOT be an All-Star.
So here's the collection of the All-Star reserve predictions. Only one outlet left him off -- fwiw, it's the one I would have guessed -- but rather than spending your time being mad at that one detractor, consider being happy that he's respected enough at this point to be as close to a "lock" as one can be as a reserve.
• The entire "Inside The NBA" crew of Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Shaq O'Neal and Adam Lefkoe have Damian Lillard as an All-Star reserve (the Western Conference segment starts at the 4:15 mark)...
• Zach Lowe at ESPN has Lillard getting his last "wild card" spot for the 2023 All-Star Game in Salt Lake City...
After a 60-point eruption Wednesday in an important win over Utah, Lillard is averaging 30 points and 7.5 dimes. He remains an offense unto himself; the Blazers are plus-4.8 per 100 possessions with Lillard on the floor, and a hideous minus-5 without him. He has hit 37.3% from deep -- average for him, but fine considering the enormous volume and how the mere threat of his pull-up 3 unlocks looks for everyone else. Lillard has drained a career-best (by a mile) 56% on 2s.
• Greg Anthony has Damian Lillard down as a "lock" for the 2023 All-Star Game when he made his picks on NBA TV (the Western Conference segment starts around the 3:00 minute mark).
• Ben Golliver at The Washington Post has Lillard in the All-Star Game as one of the
coaches' "wild card" picks...
There are a host of deserving guard candidates to fill out the roster, but Lillard (30.1 ppg, 4 rpg, 7.3 apg) shouldn’t be penalized for Portland’s shaky January. Lillard, who missed most of last season with an abdominal injury, reminded everyone that he is still an all-NBA caliber scorer when he poured in 60 points against the Jazz last week. It’s fair to wonder how many more all-star selections are in Lillard’s future given that he’s 32 years old and the Blazers seem to be spinning their wheels. Even so, Dame Time hasn’t run out yet.
• John Hollinger, noted Trail Blazers detractor, and Josh Robbins put together their All-Star picks weeks ago, well before starters were announced, and decided to leave Damian Lillard off (and it wasn't even especially close)...
After abdominal surgery prematurely ended his season a year ago, Lillard’s return to a reasonable facsimile of his former self has been one of the year’s most positive stories. He hasn’t quite found his prime Lillard Time 3-point stroke, however, at “just” 36.6 percent. Portland’s recent fade in the standings hasn’t helped Lillard’s All-Star candidacy either, despite his 27.3 points and 7.2 assists per game.
Dame is now shooting 46 percent from the field, 37 percent from three and is averaging over 30 points per game. By the way, Devin Booker, who has played 29 games this season, gets the last spot on their list with averages of 27.1 points on 48 percent shooting from the field and 37 percent shooting from three for a team that has two more wins and has played two more games.
• Michael Pina at The Ringer has Lillard getting one of the "wild card" spots via coaches' vote...
Dame is quietly having one of the best seasons of his career, a major bounce back from the abdominal injury that limited him to just 29 games last season. Along with a career-high usage, 3-point, and free throw rate, plus a near record true shooting percentage, Lillard’s 2-point field goal percentage has never been higher. He’s finishing at the rim and drilling the few midrange pull-ups he decides to launch every now and again. Last week he scored 170 points in a four-game stretch. What?!
• Brad Botkin at CBS Sports has Lillard as a "lock" for the 2023 All-Star Weekend...
Lillard is a lock. Or at least he better be. He's averaging over 30 a night on the highest true-shooting mark of his career. As I said earlier, whether he gets a guard spot and Morant enters as a wild card, or vice versa, Lillard is in one way or the other.
• Diego Vergel De Dios at ClutchPoints predictions Lillard will make the All-Star team as a reserve...
Lauri Markkanen is the top competitor of SGA for the Most Improved Player of the Year award. Damian Lillard and Anthony Davis bounced back from underwhelming performances last year and are now back as guarantees to be part of the 2023 NBA All-Star Game
• Brett Siegel at... whatever they're calling what used to be Sports Illustrated these days has Lillard making the All-Star cut...
Lillard has turned things on as of late, averaging 34.2 points per game in January and scoring at least 50 points twice this month, one of which was a 60-point game, but the Portland Trail Blazers have struggled.
Davis has only played in 26 games for a struggling Los Angeles Lakers team, but his 27.2 points and 12.1 rebounds per game averages are hard to ignore, as is the dominant stretch he had prior to his foot injury in December.
For Fox, he is not a common name being brought up in All-Star discussions and there are other star players who will steal votes from him given their namesakes, but the Kings own the third-best record in the West and De’Aaron Fox is their leading scorer.
To me, team record and missed time definitely factors into whether or not a player should be an All-Star, but Lillard, Davis and Fox have all gone above and beyond this year, which is why they get the final three spots here in my mind.
• I'm not sure why you'd make All-Star predictions nearly two months before the actual event, but that's what Grant Hughes at Bleacher Report did, and he's got Lillard in...
A pair of concerning multi-game absences have combined to suppress Damian Lillard's playing time. He's right on the borderline of consideration, but he makes the cut because when healthy, he has looked exactly like the elite, All-NBA offensive fulcrum he's been for most of the last decade.
After a lost 2021-22 season, Dame's numbers are eerily similar to the ones he produced two years ago when he was an All-NBA second-teamer and finished seventh in MVP voting (2020-21 stats in parentheses): 27.7 points (28.8), 7.1 assists (7.5) and 3.7 rebounds (4.2) on a 44.8/39.3/89.8 (45.1/39.1/92.8) shooting split.
He's the same guy! And that guy has been more than good enough to sneak in with one of the final wild-card spots, especially with the Portland Trail Blazers firmly in the mix for a top-six spot in the West.
• Steven Loung at SportsNet has Lillard getting one of the last "wild card" spots...
The wild card selections were the hardest to make with so many players putting up big numbers around the conference, like Anthony Edwards in Minnesota and Devin Booker for the Phoenix Suns.
However, leaving Lillard off the team was simply impossible to do as, like Gilgeous-Alexander, he’s averaging over 30 points per game – and just had one of the most efficient 60-point performances ever – while Fox is probably the Kings’ best player and, considering the fact they’re currently holding down a top three spot in the West, giving them a second all-star just makes sense.