Paul George Getting Traded West Would Leave the East Historically Devoid of Stars

With Jimmy Butler going West to the Timberwolves, and Paul George being linked to the Nuggets (unlikely), Rockets (possible), and Lakers (likely), I’m struggling to put together an All-Star team in the East.

Maybe Gordon Hayward heads to the Celtics, but he might stay with the Jazz. And what if Paul Millsap doesn’t return to the Hawks, but ends up in the West with a team like the Rockets? this is what the All-Star team in the East next year might look like:

C Joel Embiid
F LeBron
F Giannis
G John Wall
G Kyrie Irving

Impressive starting five.

But the Eastern Conference All-Star team backups are frightening – it might lose to the Warriors in a mythical game or series:

C Hassan Whiteside/Andre Drummond
F Carmelo Anthony/Kevin Love
F Otto Porter/Dario Saric/Tobias Harris
G Bradley Beal/DeMar DeRozan
G Isaiah Thomas/Kemba Walker

I know 76ers fans will hate the idea of no Ben Simmons on this list, even though he’s the most anticipated player in the NBA to take the floor this season, but he hasn’t played one game in the pros yet.

Go take a look at All-NBA team history. The last few years have been heavy on the Western Conference stars, here’s a breakdown:

Eastern Conference players on All-NBA teams: 1st, 2nd, 3rd
2016-2017: 1, 2, 3
2015-2016: 1, 0, 3
2014-2015: 1, 0, 1
2013-2014: 2, 1, 2
2012-2013: 1, 1, 2
2011-2012: 3, 0, 4 (LeBron, Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose)

We’re a LeBron injury away from the 2017-2018 All NBA 1st team being a clean Western Conference sweep.