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Trail Blazers: Was Damian Lillard snubbed as an All-Star starter?

Austin Carroll|
PORTLAND, OR - JANUARY 23: Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers looks on during the game against the Dallas Mavericks on January 23, 2020 at the Moda Center Arena in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2020 NBAE (Photo by Cameron Browne/NBAE via Getty Images)
PORTLAND, OR - JANUARY 23: Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers looks on during the game against the Dallas Mavericks on January 23, 2020 at the Moda Center Arena in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2020 NBAE (Photo by Cameron Browne/NBAE via Getty Images)

The Portland Trail Blazers’ star is in the midst of a career-best season, but has Damian Lillard been snubbed by the All-Star Game yet again?

Emerging as an early MVP candidate, Damian Lillard fought his hardest to pull the Portland Trail Blazers back to relevance. Unfortunately, a ravaged roster depleted by injuries has made that a fruitless goal.

While Dame received much adoration for his playoff run last year and early success this season, it didn’t take long for some media pundits to turn on Lillard once the losses started stacking up.

Losing that momentum must have made a big difference in this year’s All-Star voting, seeing as Lillard won’t be a starter for this year’s game. The NBA officially announced who would be representing the Western Conference as starters on Thursday.

It’s hard to argue their decision to elect LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, and Anthony Davis into the starting five. James Harden and Luka Doncic have also been equally impressive, but occupy the guard spots Lillard would have assumed in their stead.

Given their dominance, I decided to dig into the statistics and compare the trio of dynamic guards. Here’s a look at how they’ve performed thus far this season.

  • Lillard: 28.3 PTS, 7.6 AST, 4.2 REB, 45.0 FG%, 37.4 3P%
  • Doncic: 29.1 PTS, 9.0 AST, 9.6 REB, 46.6 FG%, 32.2 3P%
  • Harden: 36.1 PTS, 7.3 AST, 6.2 REB, 43.9 FG%, 35.7 3P%

As you can see, Dame is at an early statistical disadvantage here, despite playing the most minutes of any player in the NBA so far. Harden has excelled as the primary option, with a usage rate of 37.3 percent. He is currently on pace on to have the most combined single-season field goal and free throw attempts of any player in NBA history not named Wilt Chamberlain. Doncic, on the other hand, has impressed without over-exerting himself. Luka has only 32.9 minutes per game, yet still manages to best Lillard in box score results.

But box scores rarely tell the whole story, so I decided to peel another layer back and look at each players’ advanced statistics.

  • Lillard: 25.6 PER, 61.2 TS%, 8.4 OBPM, -2.6 DBPM, 3.2 VORP
  • Doncic: 29.9 PER, 59.4 TS%, 10.0 OBPM, 2.0 DBPM, 4.7 VORP
  • Harden: 29.5 PER, 61.9 TS%, 9.4 OBPM, -0.3 DBPM, 4.5 VORP

Lillard has been incredible this year. He’s posted a ridiculous 61.2 true shooting percentage despite shouldering such a huge workload and not receiving many foul calls on drives to the post. That being said, this clearly wasn’t his year. Historic performances from Harden and Doncic will do that to you.

The struggles that accompany playing in the Western Conference never fail to remind you, as Dame is certainly superior to both All-Star starters out in the East — Trae Young and Kemba Walker.

However, even if Lillard was putting up numbers on par with Harden and Doncic, I still don’t believe he’d get the nod here for one simple reason. The Trail Blazers just aren’t winning games. The Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks currently both stand at 28-16, caught up in a battle for postseason home-court advantage. Meanwhile, Portland holds a disappointing record of 19-27, struggling just to get their name in the playoff picture.

While the fans will know that’s through no fault of Lillard’s — after all, his supporting cast has been utterly decimated — but the national media wouldn’t care. All-Star voting is always about narrative, and Dame’s just doesn’t have very strong legs at this moment in time. Perhaps his luck will change in All-NBA voting upon the return of Jusuf Nurkic.

Regardless, there’s still a lot to look forward to for Trail Blazers fans. Damian Lillard received the third-most fan votes, the third-most votes from fellow NBA players, and was the only guard to receive any media votes besides Harden and Doncic. You can read the voting results for yourself here. This was the rare year where he actually received the credit he deserves, it’s just unfortunate he couldn’t crack the top two this time around.

However, Dame might be the first player off the board from the reserves in February’s All-Star Draft. Circle the 17th on your calendars, because I have a feeling Logo Lillard will be making an appearance during this year’s big game.