Editor’s Note: Read more NBA coverage from The Athletic here. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA or its teams.
***
The process of deciding who is an NBA All-Star is as subjective as it is faulty.
Fans, media, coaches and players are all part of the process. All have different criteria. All might have differing agendas.
There are, of course, players like the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson who are universally agreed upon as routinely worthy of the honor. Those players’ production and gravity often match the success of the team they play for. Then, there are players who get selected on a year-to-year basis. Are they scoring? Do I like their aura? Is their team playing well?
It’s all over the place, and no two veteran players have been impacted by it worse than New York’s OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges.
Let’s start here: Anunoby and Bridges are two of the top veteran players in the NBA without All-Star appearances to their name. They’ve had multiple seasons where they’ve averaged high teens in scoring. They’ve long been considered two of the best wing defenders in the NBA. Team success? Both guys have been integral parts of multiple teams winning at a high level throughout their careers.
A strong case could be made that the Knicks, who have the East’s second-best record at 16-7 with over a quarter of the season played, deserve multiple All-Stars behind Brunson. Another strong case could be made that Bridges has been New York’s second-best player this season. The same could have been said for Anunoby before he missed two weeks with an injury.
The duo known as “Wingstop” might not have the eye-popping numbers that usually come with earning the annual honors. However, those who watch the Knicks closely know it would be hard to find 12 players in the East better than these two if their production remains relatively the same over the next month.
“They deserve everything,” Brunson said. “Narratives are a huge thing in this world. It’s time to start creating that narrative.”
This column wasn’t written because Brunson told me to. I posed the question to him after Anunoby, in just his second game back from injury, put up an efficient 21 points, grabbed seven rebounds and snatched three steals, and after Bridges flirted with a triple-double (12 points, six rebounds and seven assists).
The conversation should first focus on Bridges, the ironman of the NBA, who has yet to miss a game as a professional. This isn’t the best scoring season of his career — he’s putting up just under 17 points per game. However, he’s averaging the most rebounds, assists, steals and blocks in his eight seasons in the NBA. Furthermore, Bridges is on pace to have the second-best field goal and 3-point percentages of his career.
He’s made strides as a playmaker in Mike Brown’s offense. His defense has been suffocating, too. Bridges is among the league leaders in “stocks” (blocks and steals). He’s often tasked with guarding the opposing team’s best ballhandler. He jumps the passing lanes when he’s not near the ball and turns those risks into points, like a defensive back.
Through 23 games, there isn’t much more that Bridges can do to impact winning. His scoring is always going to be suppressed playing alongside two All-NBA and offensive-minded juggernauts in Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns.
If the goal of All-Star weekend is to fully represent the NBA’s product, Bridges’ ability to do a lot of everything is as good a representation as a company can have.
“He’s impacting winning,” said Josh Hart, who is also having a season worthy of recognition. “He plays both sides of the ball. Defensively, he’s been amazing. He’s been an All-Defense player for us.”
Anunoby’s case isn’t as strong as Bridges’, but it’s only because he missed two weeks with a hamstring injury. Yet there’s a lot of time for Anunoby to make people forget all about that.
I don’t think anyone would argue that Anunoby was New York’s second-most impactful player up until his injury. The box score might say otherwise, but anyone who intently watched the Knicks would set you straight.
Anunoby’s shooting has been as efficient as it’s been in his entire career. Like Bridges, Anunoby has had a better scoring season — he’s currently averaging 15.9 points per game. But Anunoby is carrying a 61.1 true-shooting percentage, which would be the best of his career when you factor in the volume of shots (12.1) that he’s now taking.
On the other end of the floor, Anunoby’s impact goes without saying. It’s still surprising he has only one All-Defensive honor to his name. Before the injury and after, he’s made life miserable for ballhandlers in Brown’s shifting defense by pouncing in the gaps and either cutting off a dribbler’s space or just stripping the ball loose. The Knicks’ defense just looks a little more vicious when Anunoby is on the court.
Anunoby and Bridges may not have big scoring nights or flashy highlights, but they routinely do a lot of everything. And they’re not just playing 20 minutes per game. They’re playing as much as anyone in the league.
“When people look at a box score, they look at points, who scored a bunch and think those guys are the All-Star players,” Anunoby said when asked why guys like himself, Bridges and Hart get overlooked. “I don’t know. Winning is what matters. Maybe one day.”
Even if New York remains second in the East, the Knicks should have more than just Brunson representing them in Los Angeles. The Knicks are a top-heavy team that relies heavily on their six best players. The East-leading Pistons will for sure have Cade Cunningham and likely Jalen Duren, as well. The Raptors, who are behind the Knicks in the standings, will probably just have Scottie Barnes. The Celtics will likely be represented by Jaylen Brown. Tyrese Maxey in Philly, Donovan Mitchell in Cleveland, Norman Powell in Miami and Jalen Johnson in Atlanta are currently locks for me, too. The Magic may just have Paolo Banchero (and I’m not sure he’s a lock), depending on the seriousness of the injury Franz Wagner suffered in the Magic’s loss to the Knicks on Sunday.
After those names and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo (if he doesn’t miss too many games), it’s hard to argue that Anunoby and Bridges aren’t right there in the conversation.
“The way that we’ve been playing and with the record that we have, I think you have to start looking at other guys on the team,” Brown said. “This is not a two-man band here. We have other guys who have stepped up and have had career numbers in certain areas. Hopefully, this year, everyone will see that it’s (Towns), Jalen, Mikal and OG, if he gets enough games.”
If the All-Star game is supposed to be a celebration of the best the NBA has to offer, how can two players who win, defend and efficiently score while playing as many minutes as anyone continue to be left out?
Anunoby and Bridges, assuming they keep this up, deserve to be first-time All-Stars.
***
James L. Edwards III is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the New York Knicks. Previously, he covered the Detroit Pistons at The Athletic for seven seasons and, before that, was a reporter for the Lansing State Journal, where he covered Michigan State and high school sports. Follow James L. on Twitter @JLEdwardsIII
