In a relatively surprising turn of events, New Orleans superstar 20 year old big man Anthony Davis was not selected by the NBA coaches as a reserve for the 2014 Western Conference All-Star team. The list of those chosen for the team’s bench included four guards – Chris Paul, Damian Lillard, James Harden and Tony Parker; two forwards – LaMarcus Aldridge and Dirk Nowitzki; and one center – Dwight Howard. Given how talented the Western Conference is, it is difficult to call anyone a “snub”, but Davis probably comes closest to fitting the title.

Anthony Davis has compiled nothing short of a spectacular season so far, with averages of over 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks per game, all while committing under 2 turnovers per game. As a matter of fact, if he can maintain these averages for the remainder of the 2013-14 season, he would become the first player in NBA history to do so. The one blemish on Davis’ resume that likely doomed him was the fact that he has missed 8 of the Pelicans’ 45 games (~18%) so far due to injury. Should that have kept him off of the roster? Almost certainly not – after all, Chris Paul has played in just 34 games and Harden has only played in 40 – but it appears that it was enough with so many other Western Conference players having great seasons. Anthony Davis (26.8 PER) and DeMarcus Cousins (26.6 PER) both rank among the NBA’s top six players in Player Efficiency Rating (ahead of them are Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Chris Paul, and Kevin Love), yet both were left off of the Western Conference All-Star roster.

All that being said: my money (along with at least a couple other writers of this site) is on Anthony Davis ending up on this team at some point between now and All-Star Weekend. The team will need to fill the injured Kobe Bryant’s roster spot, and given the fact that the team will have five guards (Curry, Paul, Lillard, Parker, & Harden) even without Kobe, there is no reason that his spot cannot be filled by a big man such as Davis. The fact that the game is in his team’s hometown likely will not hurt his case either. Though the notion of Davis making the team as an injury replacement still won’t satisfy some of his supporters, the fact of the matter is that an all-star game with Davis would be far more fun than a game without him. If one of Goran Dragic, Cousins, or even Tim Duncan is selected over Davis to replace Bryant, though, then that number of unhappy people will grow exponentially.

Initial reactions towards Anthony Davis being left off of the All-Star roster? Sound off in the comments below.