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SPORTS Friday 1 February 2019

Davis picked as an All-Star

reserve; 4 first-timers make it

By TIM REYNOLDS ing and screaming," Jokic tering Thursday 11th in the
AP Basketball Writer said on TNT, which broad- NBA in scoring and 10th in
New Orleans has an All-Star cast the reserve announce- assists. Rebounding leader
for the sixth straight year. ments. Andre Drummond of De-
That is, unless he gets trad- Indiana's Victor Oladipo troit also didn't make the
ed first. was selected as one of the game.
Pelicans standout Anthony Eastern Conference re- Up next: The All-Star draft,
Davis — only three days serves, even though his sea- to be handled by team
removed from having his son is over because of inju- captains LeBron James and
trade request made known ry. The other reserves from Giannis Antetokounmpo
publicly — was one of the the East were Toronto's Kyle on Feb. 7. James will have
14 players announced Lowry, Milwaukee's Khris the first overall pick, and
Thursday as reserves for the Middleton, Philadelphia's they'll keep going until
All-Star Game in Charlotte. Ben Simmons, Washington's each side has 12 players for
Davis wants to be swapped Bradley Beal, Detroit's Blake the matchup. James and
out of New Orleans by the Griffin and Orlando's Nikola Antetokounmpo will pick
Feb. 7 trade deadline, so Vucevic — the first Magic the starters first — with that
it remains unclear if his uni- player to make the game pool including Philadel-
form for the All-Star contest since Dwight Howard in phia's Joel Embiid, Toronto's
on Feb. 17 will bear a Peli- 2012. Kawhi Leonard, Boston's Ky-
cans logo or not. Jokic, Middleton, Simmons rie Irving, Charlotte's Kem-
It's the sixth consecutive All- and Vucevic are the first- ba Walker, Golden State's
Star nod for Davis. The Peli- time All-Stars. Stephen Curry and Kevin
cans aren't sure if he'll play Fans, media and players Durant, Oklahoma City's
for them again, though collaborated on the vot- Paul George and Houston's
there's also no guarantee ing for the starters. The re- James Harden.
that he gets traded by next serves were picked by NBA Meanwhile, for the sec-
week either. coaches. ond time in three years, the
"That's something that will "It's truly an honor to be se- fans' hopes to see Miami's
obviously have to be dis- lected as an All-Star by the Dwyane Wade play one
cussed about what's best coaches in our league," more All-Star Game seem
for him and what's best for Griffin said. dashed.
our team," Pelicans coach Dallas rookie Luka Doncic There is one path for Wade New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis watches from the
Alvin Gentry said. didn't make the cut, get- to make the All-Star Game, bench during the first half of the team's NBA basketball game
The other Western Confer- ting denied in his bid to be and that's if NBA Commis- against the Houston Rockets, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019, in Houston.
ence reserves were Okla- the first rookie since Grif- sioner Adam Silver chooses Associated Press
homa City's Russell West- fin in 2011 to be picked him as Oladipo's replace-
brook, Denver's Nikola for the game. Only seven ment. But there's no short- this year — and in both "I don't care. I don't know
Jokic, Portland's Damian rookies in the last 30 years age of other candidates cases, he didn't make the how many times I've got to
Lillard, Golden State's Klay have been All-Stars — Grif- from the East, with Phila- team even as a reserve. say it," said Wade, whose
Thompson, San Antonio's fin, Yao Ming, Tim Duncan, delphia's Jimmy Butler, Under the system that was stance throughout the All-
LaMarcus Aldridge and Grant Hill, Shaquille O'Neal, Brooklyn's D'Angelo Russell in place through 2016, he Star voting process was he
Minnesota's Karl-Anthony Dikembe Mutombo and and Boston's Jayson Tatum would have been a start- would play if selected, but
Towns. Jokic said he wasn't David Robinson. all figuring to be worthy of er. But the NBA went to a he wasn't going to lobby
surprised, though some of Utah's Donovan Mitchell consideration. weighted voting system in for a farewell appearance.
the people closest to him, and Rudy Gobert both fell Wade got the second- 2017, one that put less em- "Whoever gets into the All-
he said, were apparently short, as did the Los Ange- most votes of any Eastern phasis on the fan vote. Star Game, congratulations
caught a bit off-guard. les Clippers' Tobias Harris. Conference guard in 2017 So Wade's career ends with to them. If it's their first time,
"My girlfriend started to cry Phoenix's Devin Harris also and the second-most votes 12 All-Star selections. He's congratulations. I know
and my brother started yell- wasn't picked, despite en- of any East guard again retiring after this season. how much it meant."q