On Sunday, February 19th, Salt Lake City, Utah hosted the 2023 NBA All-Star Game. With it, it brought 24 of the world’s most elite basketball players. Amongst those stars was 1 Canadian in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder, a Raptor in Pascal Siakam, and notably, former Dino and current Chicago Bull, DeMar DeRozan. Interestingly, all were drafted by and played for Team Giannis, which beat Team LeBron 184-175.
Along with the All-Stars, the NBA and G League’s 28 most promising rising stars made Utah their destination for the weekend. That group included the Pacers’ Canadian rookie-duo Bennedict Mathurin from Montreal, Quebec, and Aurora, Ontario’s Andrew Nembhard, G League Ignite’s 19-year-old Canadian Leonard Miller from Thornhill, Ontario, and Raptors’ 2021 4th overall pick, Scottie Barnes.
Shai at the All-Star Game
Despite only playing 10 minutes, Shai showed out on his way to becoming the 4th Canadian to play in the NBA All-Star Game. SGA managed 9 points on a cool 4/5 shooting, 1/1 from deep. He also contributed 7 assists and 2 rebounds without turning the ball over. Shai was the 5th reserve selected, making him the 13th pick in the All-Star draft, and the 7th pick for Team Giannis.
We The North twitter couldn’t help but get excited about the Shai-Pascal connection:
Everybody saw it, to be fair to Raps fans. I mean look at this oop.
That’s Charles G. D. Roberts-esque poetry-in-motion. Ugly cry-worthy for Torontonian basketball fans.
Prior to Shai, the 3 Canadians to make All-Star appearances were:
- Andrew Wiggins, 2022
- Steve Nash, (8x) 2002-2003, 2005-2008, 2010, 2012
- Jamaal Magloire, 2004
After an admirable performance, let’s see how SGA’s stat-line compares to his fellow Canadians in the All-Star Game history books:
| Player | Year | PTS | AST | REB | STL | BLK | FG | 3PT | TO | MP |
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | 2023 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4/5 (80%) | 1/1 (100%) | 0 | 10:05 |
| Andrew Wiggins | 2022 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4/7 (57%) | 2/4 (50%) | 1 | 15:15 |
| Steve Nash (8) | 2012 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 (0%) | 0/0 (0%) | 1 | 4:40 |
| Steve Nash (7) | 2010 | 4 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2/4 (50%) | 0/0 (0%) | 2 | 19:59 |
| Steve Nash (6) | 2008 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4/8 (50%) | 0/1 (0%) | 1 | 19:42 |
| Steve Nash (5, Hurt) | 2007 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 (0%) | 0/0 (0%) | 0 | 00:00 |
| Steve Nash (4) | 2006 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1/2 (50%) | 0/0 (0%) | 2 | 27:34 |
| Steve Nash (3) | 2005 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1/2 (50%) | 0/1 (0%) | 3 | 17:48 |
| Jamaal Magloire | 2004 | 19 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 9/16 (56%) | 0/0 (0%) | 1 | 21:44 |
| Steve Nash (2) | 2003 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1/3 (33%) | 0/2 (0%) | 4 | 16:00 |
| Steve Nash (1) | 2002 | 8 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3/9 (33%) | 2/4 (50%) | 0 | 24:00 |
The table shows that Shai set a Canadian record for FG% and 3PT% despite only taking 5 shots and 1 three, and tied Steve Nash as the only Canadians to complete the festivities without turning the ball over, so congratulations to him for those achievements.
Other table takeaways:
- Steve Nash’s ASG numbers kind of suck
- Jamaal Magloire is the man
- Andrew Wiggins is fraudulent
- Shai will likely (hopefully) be selected to more ASGs
Interesting Stat – Canadians are averaging 6.4 PTS, 5.5 AST, 2.4 REB, 0.4 STL, 0.2 BLK, 52% FG, 38% 3PT FG, 1.5 TOV, and 17:41 MP in 10 All-Star Game appearances.
Pascal Siakam’s 2nd Selection
Pascal finished the game with 12 PTS, 4 AST, 7 REB, 6/8 FG (75%), 0/1 3PT, and 2 TO in 15:04. Considering Jayson Tatum and Donovan Mitchell combined for 95 points, and Damian Lillard added 26 of his own, Siakam’s dozen was enough for 5th best on the Team Giannis roster, and tied for 10th-highest scoring total in the game.
Siakam’s performance was on-par with his 2020 All-Star starting selection, where he partnered to create an all-African front-court with Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo, though they fell 157-155 to a stacked Team LeBron, featuring Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis, James Harden, Luka Doncic, Chris Paul, Nikola Jokic, Jayson Tatum, Domantas Sabonis, Devin Booker, Russell Westbrook, Ben Simmons and the King himself, LeBron James. Spicy P finished that game with 15 PTS, 0 AST, 6 REB, 1 STL, 7/10 FG (70%), 0/2 3PT, with 1 TO in 17:33.
Raptors All Stars:
- Pascal Siakam, (2x) 2020, 2023
- Fred VanVleet, 2022
- Kyle Lowry, (6x) 2015-2020
- Kawhi Leonard, 2019
- DeMar DeRozan, (4x) 2014, 2016-2018
- Chris Bosh, (5x) 2006-2010
- Antonio Davis, 2001
- Vince Carter, (5x) 1999-2004
Deebo Earns Back-To-Back All Star Nod
In his 6th career NBA All-Star game DeRozan played his 2nd fewest minutes of his ASG career and tied for his least points with 8, slightly below his career average of 13.5. DeMar now has 81 career All-Star points, a potential nod to his ultimate idol, the late Kobe Bryant, who scored the NBA’s second highest all-time single game points total of 81.
Despite only playing 16:01, DeRozan was able to supply 5 assists and collect 6 rebounds, tying his career-high from 2018.
DeMar has now been selected as an All-Star in both seasons since joining the Chicago Bulls, a sigh of relief since in the three years prior, with the San Antonio Spurs he failed to be selected once, which was far from usual for Deebo, who moved to Texas as a result of the Kawhi Leonard trade, and was already a 4-time All Star, who had competed in 3 consecutive before the move.
Scottie and 3 Canadians Headline Rising Stars Tournament
This year’s rising stars challenge offered a different format for the NBA’s next generation of superstars, allowing G League talent to enter, increasing the player selection pool, and operating as a tournament as opposed to one game.
The challenge began with a draft featuring 3 teams of 7 coached by former NBA All-Stars Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah and Deron Williams. The 4th team was comprised entirely of 7 G League players and coached by Jason Terry. Two semifinal games were then played amongst the teams, with the winners meeting to play in a final to see who’s crowned champion of Jordan Rising Stars.
For Canadians and Raptors fans, Team Pau was the squad to keep an eye on. Featuring Scottie Barnes, Bennedict Mathurin and Andrew Nembhard (thank you, Pau), and starring the NBA Draft’s most recent 1st overall pick, Paolo Banchero, and the tournament’s eventual MVP, Jose Alvarado.
Leonard Millar played for the G League team, who were sent home by Team Joakim 40-32 in the semifinal. Millar added 4 PTS, 1 AST, 3 REB, 1 STL, 2/3 FG (67%), 1 TO, in 9:04.
In the other semifinal, Pau Gasol’s squad easily handled Deron Williams’ team 40-25, with Scottie and the Pehcers playing key roles.
| Player | Team | PTS | AST | REB | STL | BLK | FG | 3PT | TO | MP |
| Jose Alvarado | NOP | 13 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6/10 (60%) | 1/3 (33%) | 0 | 9:53 |
| Paolo Banchero | ORL | 9 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4/6 (67%) | 1/2 (50%) | 0 | 11:47 |
| Bennedict Mathurin 🇨🇦 | IND | 7 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2/6 (33%) | 1/3 (33%) | 1 | 6:58 |
| Jaden Ivey | DET | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2/3 (67%) | 0/1 (0%) | 0 | 6:58 |
| Keegan Murray | SAC | 3 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1/4 (25%) | 1/3 (33%) | 0 | 6:43 |
| Scottie Barnes 🦖 | TOR | 2 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1/3 (33%) | 0/0 (0%) | 1 | 9:53 |
| Andrew Nembhard 🇨🇦 | IND | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0/1 (0%) | 0/1 (0%) | 1 | 6:43 |
Now clearly, our guys didn’t shoot very well. Combining for 3/10 from the field, but it was enough to see them through to play Team Joakim in the final, where Scottie and Benn combined for 13 (52% of the team total) on 67% shooting (6/9) to carry Pau to glory 25-20 over Team Joakim.
| Player | Team | PTS | AST | REB | STL | BLK | FG | 3PT | TO | MP |
| Bennedict Mathurin 🇨🇦 | IND | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3/5 (60%) | 1/2 (50%) | 0 | 6:22 |
| Scottie Barnes 🦖 | TOR | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3/4 (75%) | 0/1 (0%) | 2 | 7:57 |
| Jose Alvarado | NOP | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2/4 (50%) | 1/2 (50%) | 0 | 5:09 |
| Paolo Banchero | ORL | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1/3 (33%) | 0/2 (0%) | 0 | 7:57 |
| Jaden Ivey | DET | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1/1 (100%) | 1/1 (100%) | 0 | 3:34 |
| Andrew Nembhard 🇨🇦 | IND | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 (0%) | 0/0 (0%) | 0 | 4:23 |
| Keegan Murray | SAC | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 (0%) | 0/0 (0%) | 0 | 4:23 |
Canadian basketball is only getting better, and we’re truly starting to see the fruits of Vinsanity.
(Photo: Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)