Khris Middleton Selected as NBA All-Star Reserve

We’ve finally done it folks. Well, we didn’t, I suppose Khris Middleton did, but let’s give ourselves some credit for beating the drum on his campaign for the last several years. Yes, tonight was the night that Khris Middleton was officially unveiled as an All-Star reserve for the Eastern Conference. This is his first All-Star selection.

This marks the first time since 2000-01 that the Milwaukee Bucks have sent two different players to the All-Star game. The last time was Glenn Robinson and Ray Allen, of course. Fan vote had no sway in Middleton’s selection, it was based solely on the coach’s vote from across the league. For his part, it’s likely a testament to his steady play the past several years, plus a Bud bump from Milwaukee’s stellar first half success.

While his per game points may be down from last year, those stats tell only 85% of the story, given he’s playing around 15% less minutes per game than he was last year. Per-36, Khris is up on points, assists, rebounds and 3-point attempts. Much has been made of his shooting slump this season, and while his 3-point percentage isn’t quite at his career average (37.6% compared to 38.9%), his 2-point percentage is essentially at what he’s shot his whole career, last year was really the blip. Perhaps this doesn’t feel like his most deserving year, but Middleton’s durability and swiss-army knife value to the Bucks clearly hasn’t gone unnoticed by opposing coaches. Here’s the full EC all-star reserve selections:

Sure, we can all admit he probably doesn’t sniff the team in the Western Conference, but I’m sure going to enjoy seeing Giannis select Middleton first and piss off a whole host of stars who care a lot more about their egos than K-Midd.

Eric Bledsoe, of course, missed out on the honor, but Victor Oladipo was selected as a reserve, so stay tuned in case Bledsoe gets selected as Oladipo’s replacement.