While Dallas Mavericks stars Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving are two of the NBA’s most recognizable players, neither were selected to the 2025 NBA All-Star Game. Mark Cuban thinks the game will suffer because of it.
Cuban, the former majority owner and current minority owner of the Mavericks, shared his disapproval of the Dončić and Irving omissions on Thursday night.
“Those tv ratings for All Star are gonna be crazy…Lol,” Cuban said. “NBA gonna NBA. JUST INSANE Luka and Kai aren’t going.”
Those tv ratings for All Star are gonna be crazy… Lol
NBA gonna NBA
JUST INSANE Luka and Kai aren’t going https://t.co/cds3jkIzDB
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) January 31, 2025
Dončić’s omission is not hard to defend. He suffered an injury during Dallas’ Christmas Day game against the Minnesota Timberwolves and has not played since. And while recent reports suggest that he could be back before the All-Star Break, it’s easy to see how a player who’s missed so much time (Dončić also missed eight games before the Christmas injury in Dallas’ 30th game of the year) would not be included.
Irving is more of a genuine snub. He’s third among Western Conference point guards, averaging 24.2 points per game, while shooting 48.2% from the field, 41.9% on threes and 89.7% on free throws.
That said, the issue isn’t just Irving’s numbers. If Irving made the team, someone else would have to go. Only four guards Western Conference guards are All-Stars: Anthony Edwards and James Harden are reserves while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Steph Curry are starters.
Gilgeous-Alexander and Curry are starters. Gilgeous-Alexander is arguably the NBA’s top MVP candidate and, regardless of what Kendrick Perkins might want, a healthy Curry was always going to be an All-Star — especially with the game in San Francisco. While it would be tough to argue Irving over Edwards, he does generally compare favorably to Harden. Still, even if one thinks Irving is more deserving, it’s hard to argue that Harden is an insane choice.
Finally, given how widely panned the All-Star Game product has become, poor TV ratings and making the game less of a showcase might be a net positive for the league.
