The NBA is loaded with talent, so cracking the All-Star ranks for the first time will be an uphill battle for any player on this list. Several players could theoretically make a surprise leap and become All-Stars this year (Derrick White, Devin Vassell, Nic Claxton, Deandre Ayton, etc.), but that's a little too theoretical at this point. There are a bunch of young players on the rise that could eventually be All-Stars (Devin Vassell, Scottie Barnes, Alperen Sengun, Jalen Williams, Scoot Henderson, Walker Kessler, etc.), but probably not for another couple of years. If any player can accomplish such a feat this season, it'll almost certainly be one of the following players:

The NBA is loaded with talent, so cracking the All-Star ranks for the first time will be an uphill battle for any player on this list. Several players could theoretically make a surprise leap and become All-Stars this year (Derrick White, Devin Vassell, Nic Claxton, Deandre Ayton, etc.), but that's a little too theoretical at this point. There are a bunch of young players on the rise that could eventually be All-Stars (Devin Vassell, Scottie Barnes, Alperen Sengun, Jalen Williams, Scoot Henderson, Walker Kessler, etc.), but probably not for another couple of years. If any player can accomplish such a feat this season, it'll almost certainly be one of the following players:

Note: Trey Murphy III would be on here, but his knee surgery will probably keep him out for too many games.

Jamal Murray

Wait, how is this possible? The second-best player in last year's playoffs hasn't even made an All-Star team yet? Well, most of this comes down to Jamal Murray's injury luck (or lack thereof - he tore his ACL in 2020-21, missed 2021-22 and wasn't completely healthy until midway through the 202-23 season) and the fact that Murray is a playoff player. In fact, in his 53 career playoff games, he's averaging 25 PPG, 6.3 APG, 5 RPG with 47-40-91 shooting splits. It's fair to assume that he'll receive the benefit of the doubt from All-Star voters coming off a championship so long as he stays healthy early in the year.

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Mikal Bridges

Let's put it this way, if Mikal Bridges plays the way he played during his 27 games for Brooklyn last season (26.1 PPG on 48-38-89 shooting), he'll be an All-Star this season. That kind of offensive production with All-Defensive team play on the other end of the court equals All-Star - perhaps even some All-Star starter consideration. Bridges had a nice run for Team USA in the FIBA World Cup and the 27-year-old's star seems to be on the rise as he enters his prime.

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Tyrese Maxey

If James Harden gets traded before the season begins, buckle up for the Tyrese Maxey leap this season. Last year, in just his third season, Maxey averaged 20.3 PPG on 48-43-85 shooting and while attempting 6.2 three-point attempts per game. If he's suddenly handed the keys to the offense as the team's primary scoring option on the perimeter, expect his scoring and assists per game (3.5 APG last year) to increase and his All-Star chances to follow suit.

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Jalen Brunson

I thought that Jalen Brunson deserved an All-Star spot over his teammate, Julius Randle, last season. He damn near made an All-NBA team (finishing with multiple second- and third-team votes). Brunson has a decent shot at making the All-Star team this season because he put up borderline All-Star numbers last season (24 PPG and 6.2 APG with 49-42-83 shooting splits) and arguably played better in the playoffs (27.8 PPG and 5.6 APG with 47-33-91 shooting splits) unlike his All-Star teammate, Randle. If just one Knicks player gets an All-Star bid this season, it'll be Brunson.

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Desmond Bane

Let's do a blind comparison...One of the players below is Desmond Bane from last season; one is a surefire Hall-of-Famer during his five-year prime. Can you name the player?Player A: 21.6 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 2.4 APG on 47-42-86 shooting splitsPlayer B: 21.5 PPG, 5 RPG, 4.4 APG on 48-41-88 shooting splitsPlayer A was Klay Thompson from 2015 to 2019; Player B was Desmond Bane last season. Thompson was an All-Star in all five of those seasons. Obviously, there's been an even greater offensive boom in recent years, but the point of this comparison is to show that Bane is closer to being an All-Star than you might think.

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Evan Mobley

After looking like a young Kevin Garnett in his rookie season, Evan Mobley continued his excellent defense in his sophomore campaign, earning All-Defensive Team honors. His offense, however, stagnated. Some of that can be attributed to the addition of Donovan Mitchell, who takes over 20 shots per game and scores nearly 30 a night. After a disappointing first-round exit, the Cavs should be looking for ways to address their team shortcomings, and expanding the ever-gifted Mobley's offensive game seems like the best way to do that. If Mobley takes a leap on the offensive end, he'll be in the All-Star mix come midseason.

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Paolo Banchero

The 2022-23 Rookie of the Year, Paolo Banchero, will definitely be an All-Star player - probably even an All-NBA player - sooner, rather than later in his career. It just remains to be seen as to how quickly he makes the leap from promising young star to consistent go-to guy for the up-and-coming Magic. At 6-foot-10, 250 pounds, Banchero is one of the largest downhill, attacking wings in the NBA, and flashed superstar potential during rookie year, averaging 20 PPG, 6.9 RPG and 3.7 APG. Becoming a more efficient scorer (43-30-74 shooting splits) and rounding out his game will lead to many All-Star appearances for the Duke product. His summer with Team USA in the FIBA World Cup, where he played backup center in small-ball lineups, could be a key to further unlocking his boundless potential.

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Josh Giddey

Not much spin to this one - Josh Giddey, aka "Himothee Chalamet" as he once coined himself, averaged 16.6 PPG, 7.9 RPG and 6.2 APG as a 20-year-old for a team that nearly made the playoffs last season. Those are elite role-player numbers already, so for Giddey to do that before he could legally drink a Foster's Lager in America should clue you into why he's on this list. Giddey's shortcoming as an NBA prospect and in his first two seasons as an NBA player has been his jumper, so if he could ever become a league-average (or better) three-point shooter, he'll be a multi-time All-Star. He improved from 26.3 percent as a rookie to 32.5 percent as a sophomore. The Thunder hope that trend will continue in an upward trajectory, and, since they employ renowned shooting guru, Chip Engelland, there's a good chance it will.

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Cade Cunningham

While the Pistons probably won't be good enough to justify having an All-Star this season, if they do have one, it'll likely be third-year guard, Cade Cunningham. Cunningham, who looked to be making a second-year leap last season, averaging 19.9 PPG, 6.2 RPG and 6 APG, had a season-ending shin injury after only 12 games in his sophomore campaign. However, Cunningham erased any worries about the long-term impact of that injury by tearing up in FIBA World Cup scrimmages for the Team USA select team, drawing some comparisons to a young Brandon Roy. If he can carry that momentum into this season, everything - including an All-Star selection - is on the table.

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Franz Wagner

Though his teammate, Paolo Banchero, is a better bet to be an All-Star this season, Franz Wagner is not that far behind. Wagner had an excellent sophomore season, averaging 18.6 PPG, 4.1 RPG and 3.5 APG on 49-36-84 shooting. The 6-foot-9 small forward continued his ascension this summer, helping lead Germany to a FIBA World Cup victory. I fully expect Wagner to make multiple All-Star teams in his career, but the Magic would need to really make a leap as a team for Wagner to stand out amongst the deep pool of forwards in the Eastern Conference.

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Austin Reaves

It's crazy to think that a year ago, only die-hard Lakers fans and NBA sickos knew who Austin Reaves was (turns out he was "HIM"). And even his most avid supporters could've foreseen the run he'd go on the past 12 months. After an excellent postseason, where he stepped his game up each round (16.9 PPG, 4.6 APG with 47-44-90 shooting splits in 16 games), he re-signed with the Lakers, then went on to excel for Team USA in the FIBA World Cup. His Head Coach Darvin Ham thinks he can be an All-Star, and so do I - especially considering the fans play a role in the selection of the team.

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Victor Wembanyama

While it's damn near impossible for a rookie to make an All-Star team his rookie season - the last one to do it was Blake Griffin (which was actually his second season under contract as he'd missed his entire rookie year) - anyone who has watched Victor Wembanyama this preseason understands why he's on this list. He's going to put up solid offensive numbers, excellent defensive numbers and make a handful of "I've never seen anyone ever do that" on a nightly basis. His All-Star campaign could be akin to that of Yao Ming - the only other rookie to be named to an All-Star team his rookie season during the 2000s - in that the fascination of seeing him play, combined with the international fan vote, could be enough to sneak him onto a roster this year.

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Jalen Green

We're going to learn a lot about Jalen Green this season. The third-year guard will finally be playing for a semi-competent team and a coach who won't put up with the YMCA-style basketball the Rockets played last season that saw the explosive, second-year guard average an inefficient but occasionally awe-inspiring 22.1 PPG on 42-34-79 shooting. If Green actually "has that dawg in him", then I suspect we'll see him round out his game on both ends of the court and improve his shot selection. If he's destined to be a good stats, bad team player, then we'll probably see him fall out of favor with Coach Ime Udoka fairly quickly in favor of some of the other young guards in Houston.

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OG Anunoby

If the rest of the NBA valued OG Anunoby like the Raptors' front office does, he'd already be a multi-time All-Star. Unfortunately for Masai Ujiri, the rest of the NBA sees him for what he has been for the past three seasons - an elite defender with good, but not great role player offensive skills (16.6 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.7 SPG, 0.7 BPG with 47-38-80 shooting splits). Can that type of player ever make an All-Star team? Maybe, if he's on a great team and/or is on his way to winning Defensive Player of the Year. If he ever makes another leap, which isn't inconceivable considering he's only 26, then he would have an even better chance at making an All-Star team.

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Tyler Herro

If Tyler Herro made the All-Star Team this season, it'd be one of the best stories of the season and one of the ultimate "chip on the shoulder" responses to being openly shopped in trade rumors all summer. Do I think he can do it? Eh, probably not. Not because Herro isn't good - he's a very good offensive guard and has averaged 20.4 PPG, 5.2 RPG and 4.1 APG with 44-39-90 shooting splits the past two seasons. It's just that there are so many dynamic scoring guards in today's NBA that he would have to bump his scoring up into the 24-25 PPG range to have a shot at an All-Star nod. Sure, it's possible, but the odds are stacked against Herro...just how he likes it.

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Chet Holmgren

Victor Wembanyama will get most of the "alien playing basketball" hype this season, but lest we not forget that Chet Holmgren is a fairly similar player, albeit a few inches shorter and not quite as fluid. He's technically a rookie, but he's the X factor for the OKC Thunder this season as their only major roster shortcoming last season was the center position. If Holmgren were to put up an 18 PPG, 10 RPG, 4 APG, 2 BPG type of line, and the Thunder were in the mix at the top of the West, then he'd certainly be a potential All-Star.

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Aaron Gordon

After toiling away the early part of his career trying to be a do-it-all small forward for the middling Magic, Aaron Gordon has found basketball nirvana with the Nuggets as a power forward next to the game's best player, Nikola Jokic. Last year, his ninth season, Gordon averaged and efficient 16.3 PPG and 6.6 RPG while playing some great defense for the championship-winning Nuggets. While his individual numbers may not seem All-Star-worthy, he has the best chance at getting the "star in your role" All-Star spot that we occasionally see (think, Kyle Korver with the Hawks; Mike Conley with the Jazz).

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Michael Porter Jr.

After the 2020-21 season, when he averaged 19 PPG and 7.3 RPG with insanely efficient 54-45-79 shooting splits, it looked like Michael Porter Jr. was destined to become a multi-time All-Star and one of the best forwards in the Western Conference. Unfortunately, every time his game starts to take off, his body - particularly his back - seems to fail him, which is what happened in 2021-22. After getting close to his 2020-21 form last season (17.4 PPG and 5.5 RPG on 49-41-80 shooting), he could be poised to make the All-Star leap we expected earlier in his career...or, his back could flare up again and stagnate his promising career. It's all on the table for MPJ in 2023-24.

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Kyle Kuzma or Jordan Poole

Let's be honest, the All-Star Game will be a lot better off if there are zero Washington Wizards playing in it. But say there are a few injuries, then there's a chance Kyle Kuzma or Jordan Poole get a look because one of them is going to score upwards of 25 PPG - it may not be an efficient or aesthetically pleasing 25 PPG, but 25 PPG looks good on paper. Hey, someone has to score on the NBA's least-talented team, right? My guess is Poole leads the team in scoring and gets back on track to becoming a younger version of Jordan Clarkson.

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Myles Turner

If the Indiana Pacers take the Eastern Conference by storm early this season with their uptempo, spread-out offense, then Tyrese Haliburton will obviously be an All-Star. If they were to be a surprise top-four seed - which isn't totally insane considering the 76ers are in flux and the Cavaliers still have the first-round exit stink on them from last spring - and Myles Turner were putting up similar stats to last season (18 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 2.3 BPG) and shooting around 40 percent from three (he shot 37.3 percent last year), then he'd certainly be able to make a case for a reserve spot on the All-Star team.

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