Why LeBron James should still be an NBA All-Star in Year 23

Draymond Green is right. That is a sentence that doesn't get written much, given Green's…let's call it default volatility. At the very least, the man is an acquired taste. But on one particular point, he is most certainly correct.

The 2026 NBA All-Star Game starters -- voted on by fans (50%), players (25%) and media (25%) -- were announced earlier this week. In the East, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Cade Cunningham, Tyrese Maxey, Jalen Brunson and Jaylen Brown were selected. In the West, Nikola Jokić, Luka Dončić, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Steph Curry and Victor Wembanyama were voted in. You will notice that LeBron James is not included, snapping an NBA-record of being named a starter in 21 straight All-Star games.

James finished ninth overall behind the five starters, as well as Anthony Edwards, Deni Avdija and Kevin Durant. There's nothing wrong with that order. I would have had Edwards ahead of Curry as a starter, but it's hard to argue with Steph being in the first group given that he's still extremely talented and popular (Curry finished second in player voting and third among fans). Avdija is having a breakout campaign and is the frontrunner to win Most Improved Player. And Durant remains a monster who just passed Dirk Nowitzki for sixth on the all-time scoring list. No quibbles with any of them. 

But the outcome does present a pressing question: Will James make the All-Star team at all? And should he? James missed the first 14 games of the season with sciatica, and his points, rebounds, assists and 3s per game, as well as his field goal and free-throw shooting, are all down slightly year over year. Still, the counting stats would be impressive if accumulated by anyone else, let alone a guy who is playing in an NBA-record 23rd season and just turned 41 years old. 

All-Star reserves, voted on by NBA coaches, will be announced on Sunday, Feb. 1. And here we return to Green, who anticipated this particular debate about LeBron and landed on the right answer, which he shared on his podcast.

"I know a lot of people are like 'Oh man he shouldn't be an All-Star,'" Green said. "Shut up. Yes he should. He's been the face of the NBA for 20 years. Figure it out. There's no world where LeBron James isn't an All-Star."

Draymond makes an important point about the argument against LeBron being an All-Star. If I may second his nuanced position: Shut up. 

It is difficult to picture any All-Star Game being played without LeBron, let alone one that will be held in Los Angeles and might be the last of his career. We don't know that he's done after this season, no one does, maybe not even James himself. My suspicion is he plays at least another year and follows Kobe Bryant's retirement blueprint with a season-long farewell tour where he's feted in every city before hanging up his Nikes for good. It's hard to imagine LeBron pulling a Tim Duncan and simply fading into the background without any fanfare. Still. We have to at least allow for the possibility that this could be his last All-Star opportunity and, accordingly, he should be among those honored. 

Alas, that thinking hasn't been so compelling to some people. It's a cold world. Tracy McGrady, now an NBA analyst, recently said James shouldn't be an All-Star. Kevin Garnett, another legend who does a podcast with Paul Pierce, posited that LeBron doesn't even want to be an All-Star. And this is where we arrive at James' somewhat dicey history with the event. 

Garnett was alluding to last year when James was named an All-Star starter yet again, only for him to duck out of the game at the last second, thereby denying the league the opportunity to name a replacement. And Garnett went further. Much like detractors who have long blamed James for killing the Dunk Contest early in his career by declining to participate, KG asserted that LeBron messed "the whole tradition up" of the actual game itself. Garnett didn't actually say "messed." He used a more colorful curse word. But you get the idea. 

KG was referring to what happened late in the 2012 All-Star game. With time winding down, the East trailed the West by two. LeBron had the ball with Kobe guarding him. And Kobe being Kobe, he essentially double-dog dared LeBron to, like, come at me, bro. James instead passed the ball to Deron Williams, who missed a 3-pointer. 

In real time, Kobe gave LeBron some heat for not taking on the challenge. All these years later, Garnett can't let it go. In KG's world of trash-talking, say-it-with-your-chest machismo, this was the unforgivable sin that led to the All-Star game deteriorating into the nearly unwatchable slop it has become. 

But as a counterpoint, if the All-Star game isn't what it once was -- and it isn't  -- wouldn't it be further diminished by not having arguably the greatest player of all-time included in the festivities? This isn't All-NBA we're talking about, where the 15 best players in the league are selected. This is a 24-man exhibition that, at its core, is primarily designed to be entertainment -- hence the league's latest overhaul, with a USA vs. the World format where 16 Americans will be pitted against each other and eight international players. In that context, what better global brand ambassador than LeBron?

The potential hiccup here is the All-Star worthiness of other players and who else gets voted in by the coaches. With the five starters selected, that leaves seven reserve slots for the Western Conference. Among the eligible candidates, I'd argue that three are locks: Durant, Jamal Murray and Alperen Sengun. That leaves four more spots for a host of worthy possibilities, among them Avdija, Devin Booker, Chet Holmgren, Kawhi Leonard, Austin Reaves and James. 

We can likely scratch off Reaves, who got off to a blazing start but has only appeared in 23 games and hasn't played since Christmas after suffering a calf injury. We might also be able to eliminate Kawhi. He has been excellent in 31 games, but he was also recently sent home from a road trip to get treatment for discomfort in his knee. (Uh oh.) He played well against the Lakers at home on Thursday night in limited minutes, but it's not hard to imagine him being unavailable for an exhibition in favor of rest even if he's picked. 

If this is a meritocracy, Advija should absolutely be an All-Star. After Jrue Holiday went down with an injury early in the season, the Blazers put Deni at the controls and he's been spectacular ever since. Ditto Booker who has helped make the Suns one of the league's pleasant surprises. And if Wembanyama doesn't reach the 65-game threshold for awards, there's a good chance that Holmgren is the Defensive Player of the Year. (At present, he's the heavy favorite on FanDuel with -115 odds.) All three are deserving All-Stars. 

Between that trio and Kawhi, there's a good chance James is the odd man out. For his part, James acted unfazed about potentially not being put in by the coaches and said "I'm good either way."

If it comes to it, commissioner Adam Silver should simply add LeBron as a legacy honoree. After all, he's LeBron. Beyond that there's precedence. In 2019, Silver added Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade to the All-Star Game in Charlotte even though both of their games had slipped. Silver was right to do so. And decades before that, Magic Johnson was voted into the game and played even though he had already retired. Magic scored 25 and was named MVP. It created a lasting and delightful memory, which is really the most the NBA could hope for out of any of these All-Star exhibitions. 

LeBron's playing days are limited. He won't be around much longer. While he still is, he should get to yank on an All-Star jersey one more time and go play with the rest of the league's luminaries -- whether he's voted in by the coaches or the commissioner makes a special dispensation. It really doesn't matter how, just so long as LeBron is included. To borrow from Draymond one last time, figure it out.