Nobody likes to get snubbed.
If you bust your ass working on something, you want acknowledgment for your efforts just like everyone else.
Jordan Peele became the first African-American to win the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 2017 with Get Out, white people have won white supremacy for a few centuries in a row and Donald Trump became the President of the United States after a lengthy history of sexual assault accusations, bankruptcies and perpetual failure.
Hard work pays off. It’s the American way.
To that end, the NBA announced its All-NBA teams for the 2019-20 season on Wednesday, and while there are plenty of familiar names, there are appear to be a few names missing.
First Team
- F: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
- F: LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
- G: James Harden, Houston Rockets
- C: Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers
- G: Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks
Second Team
- F: Kawhi Leonard, LA Clippers
- C: Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
- G: Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers
- G: Chris Paul, Oklahoma City Thunder
- F: Pascal Siakam, Toronto Raptors
Third Team
- F: Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
- F: Jimmy Butler, Miami Heat
- C: Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz
- G: Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers
- G: Russell Westbrook, Houston Rockets
Again, solid-ass group, but like many others, rookie phenom Ja Morant has questions.
“No [Bradley Beal] or [Trae Young]??” he tweeted following the announced teams.
And because numbers never lie, he trotted out each NBA-All Stars season averages before asking, “What’s the requirements?”
Historically, voters tend to favor standout players on winning ball clubs. But if Trae Young, whose Hawks finished 14th in the Eastern Conference with an abysmal 20-47 record, was good enough to be named an NBA-All Star, how in the hell was he not good enough to make the All-NBA team?
I mean, I love CP3-to-6-weeks like everyone else, but removing his otherworldly intangibles from the equation, are you really trying to tell me he had a better season of individual play than Beal or Young?
Yeah, they’re not drinking the Kool-Aid either.
Beal and Young aren’t the only players noticeably absent, as a compelling argument could be made for ballin’-ass Devin Booker, the 76ers’ Joel Embiid, Raptors legend Kyle Lowry, the Heat’s Bam Adebayo and even Khris Middleton of the Milwaukee Bucks.
With the addition of Clint Capela and whoever they scoop up in the draft, Young’s Hawks are expected to be much improved next year. But for Beal, whose Wizards are where hopes and dreams go to die, this snub just creates even more incentive to demand a trade this upcoming offseason.
“I’m not here to say who shouldn’t have made it,” Beal’s wife, Kamiah Adams- Beal tweeted. “Not my place. HOWEVER I am here to and will CONTINUE to be VERY vocal on saying BRADLEY BEAL IS A F-ING ALL-STAR AND ALL NBA!!!!!!!!!! Put some respect on his name!”
Better luck next year?