Chicago Bulls’ Zach LaVine unjustifiably snubbed from being All Star starter

Last year, the Chicago Bulls missed the playoffs and entered a pivotal offseason which would see them turn things around in a monumental way under Arturas Karnisovas, Marc Eversley and Billy Donovan.

Also last year, the Atlanta Hawks were an Eastern Conference Finals team.

But, this is not last year. This year, the Bulls sit atop the Eastern Conference, currently at 31-17. The Hawks, meanwhile, are the 12th seed in the East at 22-25 and have been arguably the league’s biggest disappointment.

Somehow, though, Hawks point guard Trae Young made it into the 2022 NBA All Star Game as a starter, leaving Zach LaVine just behind in votes, which means we’ll see him get in as a reserve.

Zach LaVine rightfully deserved to see the 2022 All Star Game boast a Chicago Bulls starting back court.

The fans absolutely got this one wrong. As stated Thursday night on live television (TNT), the players voted LaVine to be a starter, once again proving that fans should not have this much power.

Let’s be real, here, though. The fans also voted Andrew Wiggins into the game as a starter, which is the most hilarious All Star story we’ve seen in quite some time.

If you want to look at the big picture, the Hawks are terrible. Young is having a good season, sure. But, he isn’t doing anything to get that team back into playoff contention. He’s been stuffing his box scores, and doing it mostly due to volume.

One of the things fans love most about Young is his ability to knock down the three ball, which is fun to witness, admittedly. But, this year, LaVine is actually shooting a better percentage than even Young from beyond the arc.

LaVine is knocking them down at a 40.4 percent clip, while Young sits at just 38 percent — and Young is shooting more threes per game, too.

If we want to get even more specific, LaVine’s effective field goal percentage currently sits at 56.8 percent, while Young’s is 52.5.

LaVine is posting 24.9 points per game while playing next to DeMar DeRozan, who is averaging 26.4 himself. Young doesn’t even have another prolific scorer to compete with, and he’s barely ahead of LaVine at 27.7 per contest.

To say Young deserves a starting spot over LaVine, at this point, is just criminal. LaVine’s impact is far more impressive, and his team sits at number one in his respective conference. Young hasn’t done nearly enough to earn that starting spot, but here we are.