It has happened Sacramento Kings fans. DeMarcus Cousins has been snubbed again. The 24-year-old center was not selected as one of the seven reserves for the Western Conference All-Star squad when they were announced this evening on TNT’s NBA Tip-Off.
“I’m man enough to admit that I don’t like DeMarcus Cousins, but he should have made the All-Star team,” TNT’s Charles Barkley said on the telecast.
The fifth-year big man out of Kentucky is currently sixth in the NBA in scoring at 23.8 points per contest and his 12.3 rebounds per game rank third in the league. His Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of 25.2 ranks sixth in the league and he is widely considered one of the best big men in the league.
But in a crowded Western Conference, the Kings are falling apart as a team. Since firing coach Michael Malone on December 14, the Kings have gone 5-15 and are currently mired in a seven-game losing streak. The Kings’ 16-28 record, along with the fact that Cousins has missed 12 games this season due to illness and injury put his candidacy in jeopardy.
Cousins still has a chance as an injury replacement for the injured Kobe Bryant. According to NBA rules, Commissioner Adam Silver has the final say with regards to injury replacements, but Cousins will have to compete against the Portland Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard for that spot. There is no specific timetable set for that announcement.
The Sacramento Kings were hoping that Cousins would snap a streak of 10 straight seasons without an All-Star since Brad Miller and Peja Stojakovic made the team in 2004. As of today, that is not the case.
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