Atlanta guard Trae Young is headed to the NBA All-Star Game after all.
Commissioner Adam Silver announced Monday that he has added Young to the All-Star roster as an injury replacement for Milwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who will not be able to play because of a calf injury.
Young was originally displeased when he was not picked for the game through the balloting for the starters or the coaches' selections of reserve players. “It’s getting ‘Traed’ at this point,” he wrote on social media, coining a new word in reaction to being snubbed.
Young is the NBA’s assist leader this season and now a four-time All-Star selection. The All-Star Game — now a mini-tournament of three games — is Sunday in San Francisco.
Young will replace Antetokounmpo on Team Chuck, the eight-man squad drafted last week by TNT analyst Charles Barkley. Antetokounmpo was the fourth of the 24 players drafted by Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith to the All-Star rosters.
Young joins a roster with a decidedly international feel. He’ll play alongside Denver’s Nikola Jokic (Serbia), Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada), San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama (France), Indiana’s Pascal Siakam (Cameroon), Houston’s Alperen Sengun (Turkey), New York’s Karl-Anthony Towns (whose mother is Dominican) and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell (whose mother is from Panama).
Young leads the NBA in assists per game by a significant margin; he entered Monday averaging 11.4, well ahead of Jokic’s 10.3 per game.
This is the second consecutive year Young was added to the roster as an injury replacement. He also made All-Star appearances in 2020 and 2022.
It's expected that at least one more injury replacement pick will be made by Silver. Dallas forward Anthony Davis left his debut with the Mavericks with an injury on Saturday, casting serious doubt over his availability to play this weekend.
Davis is set to play on Team Shaq, which also features Davis' former Los Angeles Lakers teammate LeBron James, Golden State's Stephen Curry, Boston teammates Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Phoenix's Kevin Durant, Milwaukee's Damian Lillard and the Los Angeles Clippers' James Harden.
The other All-Stars selected to the game are on Team Kenny: Minnesota's Anthony Edwards, New York's Jalen Brunson, Memphis' Jaren Jackson Jr., Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams, Cleveland teammates Darius Garland and Evan Mobley, Detroit's Cade Cunningham and Miami's Tyler Herro.
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