No other Knicks are joining Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson in San Francisco.
Despite a late fan- and media-driven push to get Josh Hart on the All-Star team, the Knicks were shut out of the reserves.
Boston’s Jaylen Brown, Indiana’s Pascal Siakam, Cleveland’s Darius Garland, Detroit’s Cade Cunningham, Cleveland’s Evan Mobley, Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard and Miami’s Tyler Herro made up the seven East reserves, who were voted on by the NBA coaches, including Tom Thibodeau.
“It’s really an impossible task,” the Knicks coach said. “You try to be as fair as possible, you weigh it out and usually there’s two or three guys at the end that you could make a case either way.
“And then you tend to — at least I do — go with the winning aspect of it. You have to decide on something that separates the players. And it’s unfortunate. And then you’re hopeful that in some ways, they can get named later. But there’s always going to be a couple guys that get left off that are going to be deserving.”
The Knicks’ candidates — Hart, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby — were long shots and missed the cut.
The West reserves are Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards, the Lakers’ Anthony Davis, the Clippers’ James Harden, Memphis’ Jaren Jackson Jr., Houston’s Alperen Sengun, Oklahoma City’s Jalen Williams and San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama.
Among the top candidates who weren’t named to the All-Star Game are Cleveland’s Jarrett Allen, Atlanta’s Trae Young, Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball, Miami’s Bam Adebayo, Chicago’s Zach LaVine, Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox, Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis, Phoenix’s Devin Booker and Dallas’ Kyrie Irving.
Brunson and Towns were named starters for the East, though the All-Star Game format was altered and all players will be drafted onto three teams.
