Victor Wembanyama Not An All-Star But 1990s Often Chose NBA Rookies For Event

Rookies Shaquille O'Neal, Grant Hill and Tim Duncan were all selected for NBA All-Star game while phenom Victor Wembanyama was left off this season
Victor Wembanyama Not An All-Star But 1990s Often Chose NBA Rookies For Event
Victor Wembanyama Not An All-Star But 1990s Often Chose NBA Rookies For Event /

Last week, San Antonio Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama was not among the players chosen for the NBA All-Star game. 

Despite averaging 20.5 points and leading the league in blocks (3.2), he will participate in the Rising Stars Challenge game reserved for rookies and second-year players. 

"Of course, being selected as an All-Star would have been a great achievement, especially in my rookie year," Wembanyama said. "But honestly, my focus is more on trying to win games and get better as a team than this. But of course, it's motivation."

The omission leaves Blake Griffin as the last rookie to make the All-Star game when he was chosen as a member of the Los Angles Clippers in 2011. Not even today's greats such as LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic made the game in their first years. 

But there was a time rookies were rewarded for their play. 

In the 1990s, three players were selected. They were Shaquille O'Neal (Orlando Magic), Grant Hill (Detroit Pistons) and Tim Duncan (Spurs). 

Here's a look at their rookie stats that allowed them to join rare company: 

O'Neal: Averaged 23.4 points on 56.2 percent shooting, 13.9 rebounds, and 3.5 blocks

Hill: Averaged 19.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.77 steals, becoming the first Pistons rookie since Isiah Thomas in 1981–82 to score 1,000 points.

Duncan: Averaged 21.1 points, 11.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 0.7 steals, and 2.5 blocks while shooting 54.9 percent from the field.

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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day NBA. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com 


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Shandel Richardson
SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star.  TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com