In years past, there's been vigorous debate regarding whether Damian Lillard deserved a spot on Western Conference All-Star team. This year, it simply wound't be an All-Star Game without him.
After coming in third, one spot below the cut line, among West guards in All-Star starters voting, Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard was selected via coaches vote as a reserve for the 2020 All-Star Game, scheduled for Sunday, February 16 at the United Center in Chicago. Lillard is joined by Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Nikola Jokic, Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell and Brandon Ingram as West reserves. Jimmy Butler, Ben Simmons, Kyle Lowry, Khris Middleton, Jayson Tatum, Bam Adebayo and Domantas Sabonis comprise the East reserve team.
It is Lillard's third consecutive All-Star Game selection and his fifth selection overall, putting him behind only Clyde Drexler (eight) for the most in franchise history.
The 6-3 point guard in his eighth season out of Weber State is averaging 29.0 points, good for fourth in the NBA, on 46 percent shooting from the field and 39 percent shooting from three, 7.8 assists, which ranks sixth, 4.3 rebounds and 1.0 steals in 37.1 minutes per game this season. He's also second in the league this season in made three-pointers and made free throws.
But it's his play over the last two weeks of the that ended any lingering doubt, if such doubt even existed, about whether Lillard would be one of the seven Western Conference players voted in by the coaches for the 2020 event. The question this season hasn't been whether he should be an all-star, but rather, how could be not be?
He became the first player in franchise history to score at least 30 points in six consecutive games and was recently named Western Conference Player of the Week by averaging 52.7 points on 53 percent shooting from the field and 57 percent shooting from three, 7.3 rebounds and 9.3 assists. He set a new career high of 61 points, which is also the high mark this season in the NBA, in a win versus the Warriors, is the only player in the league to score at least 50 points twice this season and with 36 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, completed the first triple-double of his career in Wednesday's victory versus the Rockets at the Moda Center.
Simply put, Lillard has arguably been the best player in the NBA since the start of the New Year, and he wasn't too shabby to start the 2019-20 season either. While the Trail Blazers have had a better record at this point in the season on numerous occasions during Lillard's career, his individual play has never been better. There's no debate: Damian Lillard is an All-Star.
With all of the starters and reserves selected, we now have to wait until Thursday, February 6 to find out which whether Lillard will be drafted by LeBron James -- as was the case in last year -- or Giannis Antetokounmpo for their respective teams.