Heat’s Jimmy Butler named East All-Star reserve. But Adebayo, Lowry, Herro not selected
The Miami Heat will be represented in this season’s NBA All-Star Game.
Heat wing Jimmy Butler was named an All-Star reserve for the Feb. 20 showcase game. It marks the sixth time that Butler has been named an All-Star and the second time he has been voted into the All-Star Game as a member of the Heat.
Butler joins Alonzo Mourning, Tim Hardaway, Shaquille O’Neal, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh as players who have been voted into the All-Star Game multiple times as members of the Heat.
The Heat’s other All-Star candidates this season — Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Kyle Lowry — did not make the cut. At this point, the only way Miami could have a second player in the All-Star Game is as an injury replacement.
The seven reserves from each conference, which were voted on by head coaches, were revealed Thursday night.
Along with Butler, Cleveland’s Darius Garland, Brooklyn’s James Harden, Chicago’s Zach LaVine, Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton, Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Toronto’s Fred VanVleet were named as East All-Star reserves.
The seven All-Star reserves from the Western Conference are Phoenix’s Devin Booker, Dallas’ Luka Doncic, Utah’s Rudy Gobert, Golden State’s Draymond Green, Utah’s Donovan Mitchell, Phoenix’s Chris Paul and Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns.
The Heat did not have a player voted into last season’s All-Star Game, but Adebayo and Butler were selected as reserves for the 2020 All-Star Game.
Butler was listed as an East frontcourt player on the All-Star ballot. Adebayo was also listed as a frontcourt player, while Herro and Lowry were labeled as guards.
On the TNT broadcast after the All-Star reserves were announced Thursday night, Charles Barkley said he believed Herro should have been the Heat’s All-Star. Herro is the NBA’s leading bench scorer, averaging 19.9 points per game as a reserve.
“He’s the guy, to me, who should have been an All-Star,” Barkley said. “Tyler Herro has been great all year. No disrespect to Jimmy Butler. If I had to pick one guy from the Heat, it would be Tyler Herro.”
Barkley’s TNT partner Kenny Smith said he would have also picked Herro because of the amount of games that Butler has missed. But Smith added: “Jimmy Butler, if you put the body of work of what he has done while he has been on the floor, it has been awesome.”
Butler has missed 19 games this season with various injuries, but he still built a strong All-Star case and has been a driving force behind Miami’s success. The Heat entered Thursday’s road game against the San Antonio Spurs with the second-best record in the East at 32-20.
Butler, 32, entered Thursday averaging 21.8 points while shooting 48.3 percent from the field and 88.7 percent from the foul line, 6.3 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 1.9 steals in 33 games this season. He’s averaging the third-most free throws in the NBA at eight per game behind Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid (11.1 free throws) and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo (10.9 free throws).
Butler is one of only four NBA players averaging at least 20 points, six rebounds and six assists while shooting better than 48 percent from the field this season. The other three players are Antetokounmpo, Los Angeles’ LeBron James and Denver’s Nikola Jokic, who were all voted in as All-Star starters.
Butler is also ranked No. 4 in the NBA in win shares per 48 minutes (an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player per 48 minutes), trailing only No. 1 Jokic, No. 2 Gobert and No. 3 Antetokounmpo.
The All-Star Game starters — voted on by fans, current NBA players and a media panel — were announced last week.
Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan and Atlanta’s Trae Young were the two East guards voted in as starters, with Antetokounmpo, Embiid and Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant as the three East frontcourt players who made the cut.
The West All-Star starters are James, Jokic and Golden State’s Andrew Wiggins in the frontcourt, and Golden State’s Stephen Curry and Memphis’ Ja Morant in the backcourt.
The 2020 NBA All-Star Game will take place at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland on Feb. 20. The two team captains will draft rosters from the pool of players voted as starters and reserves in each conference, making their picks regardless of conference affiliation.
The All-Star Draft will be televised by TNT next Thursday at 6:30 p.m. The captains are the All-Star starters who received the most fan votes in their respective conference, which is James from the West and Durant from the East.
Butler could be the only Heat representative at All-Star Weekend this year. As of Thursday night, the Heat did not have a confirmed participant in any of the Feb. 19 All-Star Saturday Night events like the Skills Challenge, Three-Point Contest and Slam Dunk Contest.
The Heat also did not have a player selected for the Feb. 18 Rising Stars game, as the rosters of first and second-year and G League players were announced earlier this week. Rookie center Omer Yurtseven, who was considered Miami’s top candidate for the game, was bypassed.
But Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is still in the running to be one of the two head coaches in the All-Star Game, with the Heat entering Thursday just one game behind the Chicago Bulls for the top spot in the East.
The eligible head coach of the team with the best record in each conference through games played on Sunday will coach in the All-Star Game. Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams already clinched the honor for the West.
This story was originally published February 3, 2022 at 7:21 PM.
