NBA All-Star Reserves: Surprising Contenders Poised to Steal the Spotlight This Year

Last week, the NBA unveiled the ten standout athletes who secured starting roles for the 2026 All-Star Game, and I gotta say—it’s a lineup that mirrors much of what I anticipated, yet still sparks a few debates. My official media ballot saw eight of its selections make the cut, featuring stars like Nikola Jokić, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Dončić, and Victor Wembanyama holding down the West, while Giannis Antetokounmpo, Cade Cunningham, Tyrese Maxey, and Jaylen Brown led the Eastern charge. Sure, a couple of surprise nominations—Jalen Brunson edging out Donovan Mitchell in the East and Stephen Curry surpassing Anthony Edwards in the West—stirred the pot, but these choices hardly scream injustice; both Brunson and Curry were on my radar as first picks for the reserves if not starters. Now, while fans, media, and players chime in on starters, it’s really NBA coaches who put together the reserve lists—so my thoughts here are purely for kicks and speculation. Nevertheless, I couldn’t resist sharing my picks for the players who deserve a spot on the 2026 rosters—seven from each conference, free from positional constraints as per the league’s latest tweaks. Ready to dive into my selections and shake things up? LEARN MORE

The NBA announced the 10 players who’d been voted in as starters for the 2026 All-Star Game last week. Eight of the players on my official media ballot made the final cut: Nikola Jokić, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Dončić and Victor Wembanyama in the West, and Giannis Antetokounmpo, Cade Cunningham, Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown in the East. Jalen Brunson earned the final starting spot in the East over my pick, Donovan Mitchell; Stephen Curry finished ahead of my pick, Anthony Edwards, in the West.

Those results are neither stunning nor injustices; Brunson and Steph would’ve been my first picks as reserves if they hadn’t made the starting lineups. Instead, it’ll be Mitchell and Ant kicking off my reserve picks — which, I hasten to remind you, are wholly and completely irrelevant and for entertainment purposes only. Fans, players and media members vote on starting lineups, but NBA coaches alone choose which players wind up comprising each conference’s reserve corps; my thoughts don’t matter at all!

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That said: I do have some thoughts. Here are seven* players from each conference — chosen irrespective of position this year, in accordance with the most recent round of All-Star alterations decreed by the league office — that I’d pick to complete the 2026 NBA All-Star Game rosters:

* There’ll be more than seven, due to me making some assumptions on injury replacements.

All stats and records entering Tuesday’s games.

Western Conference

Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves
Kevin Durant, Rockets
Kawhi Leonard, Clippers
Chet Holmgren, Thunder
Jamal Murray, Nuggets
Deni Avdija, Trail Blazers
Jimmy Butler, Warriors*
Devin Booker, Suns **
Alperen Şengün, Rockets **

(* will miss game due to injury)

(** injury replacement)

I made my case for Edwards in voting him a starter. The 37-year-old Durant remains one of the sport’s most remarkable offensive players, averaging 26.4 points on 51/41/88 shooting splits to go with 5.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game to help elevate Houston to fifth in the NBA in offensive efficiency and fourth in the Western standings. While the Clippers scuffled through an absolutely brutal start, they’ve been arguably the hottest team in the NBA for weeks now, owning the league’s best record and second-best net rating since Dec. 20 — and Leonard has been at the heart of that turnaround.

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In his 14th season, Kawhi’s averaging a career-high 28.1 points per game, shooting 49.8% from the field, 39.7% from 3-point range and an NBA-best 94% from the foul line, while also leading the league in steals. Advanced metrics like estimated plus-minus, LEBRON, DARKO, value over replacement player and player efficiency rating peg Leonard as a top-five-to-10 performer in the league this season. Sure, there’s still the nettlesome matter of that whole independent investigation into whether or not the Clippers conspired to circumvent the salary cap to pay Leonard more than the league’s bylaws allow, which promises to draw a fresh round of attention considering that the Clippers are hosting the All-Star Game, and sure, Leonard’s presence would likely only further inflame the interest. Oh, well. Should’ve been less good at basketball, then, I guess.

Also good at basketball: three dudes I’d give their first ever All-Star selections!

Holmgren gets the nod for the way he’s leveled up in his third season, as both a scorer (17.8 points per game, 57.1% shooting from the field, 37.6% from 3-point land) and a rim protector (holding opponents to microscopic 46.9% shooting at the rim, second-lowest among players to guard at least 100 up-close shots) for the best team in the NBA. Murray was already trending toward his first selection, putting up career-best scoring, assist and shooting efficiency numbers to help keep Denver within striking distance of Oklahoma City. The way he’s performed since his longtime running buddy went down, though — 28.2 points and 8.4 assists in 36.5 minutes per game, 50/43/91 shooting splits, helping Denver not only stay afloat but win more than it’s lost without the three-time MVP — cemented it. Avdija has been an absolute monster in Portland, kicking the breakout that began years ago in Washington into hyperdrive and averaging 26-7-7 on elite shooting efficiency to propel the Blazers into the play-in picture.

I wrote last week about Butler, and the All-Star campaign he was having. We’ll give him the nod here, with the understanding that his season-ending ACL tear will require an injury replacement; if Jokić isn’t able to recover from his hyperextended left knee in time to participate, we’ll need two.

The first spot goes to Booker, averaging more than 25 points and six assists per game as the leading light for the seventh-seeded Suns, whose attitude adjustment and attendant turnaround has been the best story in the league this season. The second goes to Şengün, the ball-handling, playmaking hub of Houston’s top-five offense and massive paint-plugging deterrent at the heart of its top-five defense.

Apologies to: Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle, James Harden, Amen Thompson, De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, LeBron James, Trey Murphy III, Austin Reaves.

Eastern Conference

Donovan Mitchell, Cavaliers
Scottie Barnes, Raptors
Jalen Duren, Pistons
Jalen Johnson, Hawks
Karl-Anthony Towns, Knicks
Norman Powell, Heat
Derrick White, Celtics
Pascal Siakam, Pacers **

(** injury replacement)

I covered the case for Mitchell with my starters last week. Barnes gets a spot for serving as the two-way heartbeat of the surprising third-seeded Raptors, averaging 19.5 points, 8.3 rebounds, 5.6 assists and nearly three combined steals-and-blocks while routinely guarding some of the toughest covers the league has to offer, from all across the positional spectrum. Duren has shined in a larger offensive role (17.8 points on 63.2% shooting) while remaining a rebounding menace and taking a significant step forward as a rim protector and defender in space — one major reason why the Pistons have risen to second in the NBA in defensive efficiency, and all the way to the top of the Eastern Conference.

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Johnson was in contention for an All-Star nod last season before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury. This time around, the fifth-year forward has stayed healthy and kicked his all-around production to an even higher level, joining Jokić as one of just two NBA players averaging more than 20 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists per game as the centerpiece of a post-Trae Young Hawks team that is, as is seemingly its ancestral birthright, jockeying for play-in position.

There’s been plenty of sturm und drang and rending of garments about the role Towns has played in the Knicks’ post-NBA Cup swoon, and it’s inarguably been a down season for him on the offensive end, with his per-game scoring, 2-point shooting and 3-point accuracy all at or near career lows. But he’s still averaging 20 a game on .600 true shooting and leading the NBA in rebounding for a No. 4 seed playing at a 50-win pace — and, quiet as it’s kept, the Knicks’ defense has been better with him on the floor than off it, and top-five-caliber in the minutes he’s played without Brunson. I still feel like he’s done enough to get the nod.

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I’d round out my list with two more first-timers. I thought Powell deserved a Western spot last season, and he’s been even better in his first season in Miami, averaging a career-high 23.1 points per game on 47/39/84 shooting splits, launching 3s and getting to the free-throw line more than ever, and fitting seamlessly into the Heat’s new perpetual-motion-machine offense — which, by the way, scores at a top-six clip when he’s on the floor.

A reasonable observer could argue that Bam Adebayo, Erik Spoelstra’s beloved Giving Tree, is more central to the Heat’s success (especially, obviously, on the defensive end) than Powell has been. But in the consequence-free sandbox of this nonbinding thought exercise, I think it’d be more fun to reward Powell for just continuing to get better and better as he nears his 33rd birthday. Similarly, while White has had a really rough go of it shooting the ball this season — just 48.4% inside the arc and 32.3% beyond it — he’s been an indispensable playmaker for Joe Mazzulla and the Celtics, who have overcome all manner of injuries, trades and free agency exits to somehow sit second in the East. He’s been a defensive monster — 1.3 steals, 1.5 blocks and 2.9 deflections per game — while toting a 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio at the controls of what’s been the NBA’s second-best offense. The Celtics wouldn’t be where they are without White’s ability to give them whatever they need on a night-to-night basis. Sounds like an All-Star to me.

That gives me seven. It sounds, though, like we’re going to need an eighth — at least, if Antetokounmpo’s assessment of his latest calf injury winds up bearing out. And with respect to a number of very good players on pretty good teams, I’m going with Siakam, an excellent player on a very, very bad Indiana team that is very bad through absolutely no fault of his own.

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Everybody knew this Pacers season was going to be hopeless as soon as Tyrese Haliburton hit the ground in Oklahoma City last June. But even without the point guard who makes the Pacers special, and with a handful of other rotation players missing time to turn Indiana into arguably the most injury-ravaged team in the NBA, Siakam has just kept showing up for work and excelling: 23.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game, shooting 48% from the field and 37.8% from 3-point land — all while shouldering the highest usage rate of his career, despite being double-teamed more often than ever, with a rotating cast of not-quite-ready-for-prime-time-players around him.

The Pacers have only 11 wins. Siakam has hit the game-winner in four of them, and is 14-for-28 overall on shots to tie or take the lead in the final two minutes, tied for the fourth-most makes in the league in those close-and-late situations. There’s a certain nobility in the way Siakam is performing this season, and I’m kind of a sucker for tilting at windmills. If things shake out the way I’ve sketched them out here, maybe Adam Silver rings up Adebayo or Evan Mobley — fellow established All-Stars on significantly better teams — to take Giannis’ spot. Here, though, we’ll tip the cap to Siakam, the missing piece who has continued to rage against the dying of the light on a team missing damn near everything this season.

Apologies to: Adebayo, Mobley, Michael Porter Jr., Joel Embiid (just FYI, you guys: 28.3 points on .631 true shooting in 33.6 minutes per game over his last 15 games), Josh Giddey, LaMelo Ball, Franz Wagner, Mikal Bridges.

Highlights

Western Conference

Eastern Conference

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