In a league that is powered by superstars, with only 24 All-Star spots available every year, there are bound to be big names left on the outside looking in on the NBA’s annual exhibition.
From Rudy Gobert to Devin Booker, we’ve seen All-NBA talents left out of the selection before and not even try to hide their annoyance. The 2025 All-Star game will again have some noteworthy names watching from home in a crowded field.
With the weekend’s festivities in San Francisco just around the corner, let’s take a look at the biggest 2025 NBA All-Star snubs.
Domantas Sabonis, C, Sacramento Kings
Domantas Sabonis is a three-time All-Star with two All-NBA selections to his name, but he was left out in a highly competitive Western Conference field this time. Sabonis’s per-game stats are ridiculous and entirely deserving of the honor. The former Gonzaga Bulldog is averaging 20.4 points, 14.3 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per game as he continues to make his best Nikola Jokic impression in stuffing the stat sheet on a nightly basis.
Despite Sabonis’s singular impact, his Sacramento Kings have endured an up-and-down 2024-25 NBA season. There’s been plenty of drama between former Coach of the Year Mike Brown’s firing and the veiled trade request and eventual trade of former running mate De’Aaron Fox. The Kings are in the middle of a six-team fight between the sixth and 11th seeds, with a streak in either direction potentially altering their course.
Ultimately, Sabonis’s team success—or lack thereof—seemingly cost him this year. Though Alperen Sengun, who got his first All-Star nod this year, doesn’t have numbers anywhere close to Sabonis’s, his team’s success pushed him over the edge. While Sacramento fights and claws on the fringes of the playoff picture, Sengun’s Houston Rockets are comfortably in the Western Conference’s top five.
Tyrese Maxey, PG, Philadelphia 76ers
Tyrese Maxey, a one-time All-Star and last year’s Most Improved Player, has had the most responsibility of his young NBA career this season. With Joel Embiid and Paul George, two of the least reliable running mates you could have in the NBA, Maxey has ascended to be among the league’s top scorers.
During the year, the rapid point guard averaged 27.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 6.1 assists while playing nearly every night with Embiid and George in and out of the lineup.
Unfortunately for Maxey, the lack of reliability from George and Embiid has led to a complete lack of team success. A team built, quite pressingly, to win in the now is a dozen games below .500 and out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture completely. In a conference with only a handful of legitimately good teams, it’s a damning indictment.
Though Maxey’s numbers and consistency deserve an All-Star nod, he suffered this snub because of a crowded backcourt in the Eastern Conference and the failings of his co-stars.
LaMelo Ball, PG, Charlotte Hornets
One of the more controversial snubs was LaMelo Ball’s failure to get the call to the Bay Area after being the league’s leader in fan votes. Unfortunately, coaches weren’t as hot on the flashy guard’s play, and as a result, Ball didn’t get a chance to build on his one career All-Star selection.
Ball has continued to do what he has done his entire career when healthy and put up huge stats. During the year, the youngest ball brother averaged 27.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 7.2 assists per game. He is the sun and the star for the Charlotte Hornets, and even more so, with promising sophomore Brandon Miller out for the year.
For all of Ball’s magic, however, the Hornets are far from the playoff picture. Although it is a young squad, Charlotte’s 10 games out of the Eastern Conference play-in picture, and it is unlikely to make up the ground. That is, ultimately, what hurt Ball’s candidacy, too. He can compile numbers with the best of them, but whether he impacts winning or not is a question.
Devin Booker, SG, Phoenix Suns
The most decorated player among this year’s snubs, the four-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA Devin Booker, wasn’t able to join teammate Kevin Durant at this year’s festivities.
A gifted scorer, Booker has continued to put up great numbers with the efficiency to boot in 2024-25, with the former Kentucky Wildcat averaging 26.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 6.7 assists per game. After performing brilliantly at the Olympics as a do-it-all glue guy, Booker’s reputation was sky high, but the struggles of his NBA team cost him.
Booker suffers, however, from the Phoenix Suns’ underwhelming season. The Suns are on the fringes of the Western Conference play-in picture and have been hurt by the constant drama surrounding the team this year. As the franchise stalwart, Booker takes responsibility for that.
It was, in effect, that lack of success that cost Booker here, too. In a vacuum, a reasonable argument could be made for him over the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Jalen Williams. With the Thunder nearly 20 games better than the Suns, however, at the top of the conference, it wasn’t a debate. Team success needs to be rewarded, while a lack of the same can’t be.
Jalen Johnson, SF/PF, Atlanta Hawks
When the All-Star selections were announced, Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young—later named as a replacement—was noted as one of the more noteworthy snubs. Yet, objectively, he wasn’t his team’s biggest snub. Though his season is now over due to injury, Jalen Johnson was headed for the Most Improved Player award and a worthy All-Star nod.
The ascendant star was having his best year yet, averaging 18.9 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 5.0 assists as he continued to take control of the Hawks away from Young. Unfortunately, Young’s star power and stats gave him the edge, while Johnson was shut down for the year.
Health permitting, Johnson should find himself right back in the mix next year, with a great chance to get his first career All-Star selection. If Atlanta pivots in the offseason and trades Young in order to fully build around Johnson, that first selection would become a near guarantee.
Norman Powell, SG, Los Angeles Clippers
Perennial Sixth Man of the Year candidate Norman Powell made waves ahead of the season when he called Paul George’s exit from the Los Angeles Clippers addition by subtraction. But all Powell has done since then has proven himself to be right. The former Raptor made a proud push for his first All-Star selection, averaging 24.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game.
With the Clippers hovering around the sixth seed for most of the season, they were bound to have an All-Star on their team. Unfortunately for Powell, James Harden’s Hall of Fame resume got the nod (though not undeservedly).
Much like Booker, Powell would’ve been a deserving All-Star and likely would’ve been named as such in the Eastern Conference. In the West, however, he has to compete with incredible individual talents, like Anthony Edwards, or strong team success, like that of JDub and the OKC Thunder.
Jarrett Allen, C, Cleveland Cavaliers
Despite being a central part of a Cleveland Cavaliers team that began the year on a record-setting pace, Jarrett Allen was unable to build on his one career All-Star selection. He could rightfully feel hard done by, with the other three in the Cavs’ franchise quartet—Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Donovan Mitchell—all getting the nod to head to San Francisco.
Ultimately, such is life for an unflashy center like Allen. His stats were never going to garner a ton of attention, with per game averages of 13.6 points, 10.3 rebounds, 0.9 blocks. With the Cavs a good, not elite defense, it was a little easier to exclude Allen in favor of Garland, who is pulling the strings for a truly elite offense.
And with Mobley being the more impactful and well-known member of Cleveland’s front court, voters surely found it easier to exclude Allen than Mobley, Mitchell, or Garland.
With Allen a bastion of consistency inside and the Cavaliers continuing comfortably atop the Eastern Conference, Allen would no doubt be among the first replacements if an injury arose. As it stands, however, he is a victim of his team’s success and his quiet impact.
