Over the past decade, only nine players have made an All-NBA team after not being named to the All-Star Game that season. Pascal Siakam (2021-22), Jimmy Butler (2020-21) and Rudy Gobert (2018-19 and 2016-17) are the most recent examples.
James Harden has a viable case to become the 10th this season.
Perhaps Harden was left out of the All-Star Game because a foot injury sidelined him for a month toward the beginning of the season. Maybe it’s because he’s averaged “only” 21.0 points per game this season, a far cry from the mid-30s averages he put up during his prime with the Houston Rockets in the late 2010s.