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Sam Amick Argues This Laker Didn't Deserve His 2024 All-Star Selection

Originally posted on FanNation All Lakers
By Alex Kirschenbaum | Last updated 2/3/24

Despite being the ninth seed in the Western Conference, your 25-25 Los Angeles Lakers managed to secure All-Star appearances for a whopping two of their players.

To be fair, those players happen to number among the league's biggest stars, in future Hall of Famers LeBron James (a 20-time All-Star) and Anthony Davis (a nine-time All-Star).

Like The Ringer's Bill Simmons before him, Sam Amick of The Athletic detailed in a Twitter/X exchange with "Sports Jeopardy" champ Tony Hughes how he believes Sacramento Kings center Domantas Sabonis was passed over for an All-Star slot, and perhaps should have made the West reserves ahead of Davis.

I think Davis is less deserving than Sabonis, yes
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) February 2, 2024

Sabonis, 27, is a three-time All-Star and one-time All-NBA Third Teamer, so he's not exactly hurting for accolades.

The Kings center may not be much of a defender, but he's averaging a near triple-double for a 27-19 Sacramento club that is just flat-out better than the mediocre Lakers right now. He's averaging 19.9 points on .616/.451/.680 shooting splits, a career-best 13 rebounds, a career-most eight assists, 0.8 steals and 0.5 blocks a night.

Beyond that, Amick had a pretty salient point about two Lakers being named to the All-Star team, against the Kings' zero (Sacramento point guard De'Aaron Fox, like Sabonis, was overlooked this year after making his inaugural All-Star appearance in 2023):

You don’t get two All-Stars (16.6% of the roster) when you’re in ninth place. There are 12 spots up for grabs and 15 teams. That math doesn’t math.
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) February 2, 2024