For a lot of fans around the NBA, there’s a legitimate reason to be upset that your favorite player missed out on being selected to the All-Star Game. It’s a time for debate with some turning relatively heated.
As fans sit back and play Monday morning quarterback, a selection to the meaningless exhibition game is anything but meaningless for the players.
Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert is a prime example of this. He lost out on a cool $1 million by not being selected as a reserve on Thursday.
Rudy Gobert will miss out on a $1M bonus for not being selected to the All-Star game. He will not receive the bonus if selected as a replacement player.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) February 1, 2019
In an interesting turn of events, New Orleans Pelicans big man Anthony Davis earned the nod over Gobert. Certainly, Davis has more than proven himself. But there’s no telling whether he’ll even be a member of the Pelicans once the All-Star Game comes calling.
Gobert, 26, remains one of the most underrated centers in the game. He earned NBA Defensive Player of the Year honors last season and is averaging 15.0 points to go along with 12.8 rebounds thus far during the 2018-19 campaign.
In addition to Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson (Warriors), Nikola Jokic (Nuggets), Damian Lillard (Blazers), Russell Westbrook (Thunder) and LaMarcus Aldridge (Spurs) all earned All-Star nods over Gobert.
Check the Eastern Conference All-Stars here.
The good news? Gobert is playing under a four-year, $102 million contract. He can afford to take All-Star Weekend off.