All Star Game: 3 Players Who May Beat Out Knicks’ Julius Randle
By Max Hoover
3 Players who may beat out Knicks’ Julius Randle: Domantas Sabonis
It also would not surprise me if the name immediately after Julius Randle’s on the weighted average list leap-frogged both him and Adebayo for a roster spot in the All-Star Game.
Make no mistake about it: Arvydas’s pride and joy has played like an All-Star this year.
For starters, the Pacers are currently fourth in the Eastern Conference. If the playoffs started today the Pacers would host a first-round series, and they should probably have a representative in the All-Star game for their troubles.
Domantas Sabonis is no slouch in the stats department either. He is averaging more points per game than Adebayo (21.5), more rebounds per game than Randle (11.6), and technically more assists per game than both of them (5.7).
Putting together those kinds of numbers is probably why the media ranked him as the 4th frontcourt player behind Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, and Kevin Durant. Coincidentally each of those men plays for one of the three teams ahead of Sabonis’s Pacers.
You’ll have to now excuse me if the cynicism born out of Knicks homerism rears its ugly head again.
When there are only 6.5 games separating the team in first place in a conference and the team in tenth, it feels silly to put too much stock in records. This is especially true when only a game and a half separating the fourth place Pacers and the seventh-place Knicks. What’s more is the two teams (and players, really) have split their season series.