Best NBA players never to make an All-Star game

The son of Hall of Fame sharpshooter Rick Barry, Brent Barry never got the respect he deserved playing in his father’s shadow. A superb defender, Barry had several seasons deserving of an All-Star bid, but it just didn’t happen.

In the early 2000s, there were few point guards in the NBA better than Mike Bibby. Bibby nearly led the Sacramento Kings to an NBA Finals appearance in 2002, but his regular-season numbers just weren’t quite good enough to land him in an All-Star game.

The second overall pick of the 1996 NBA Draft, center Marcus Camby could never quite get over the hump. He was a fantastic defender but never put up the glitzy offensive numbers needed to make an All-Star team.

Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley is a victim of playing in the Western Conference. He is an awesome player is his own right, but with Stephen Curry, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook and Damian Lillard playing out west, Conley will likely never be named an All-Star.

One of the best sixth men in NBA history, Jamal Crawford has been a victim of his own skill set. The type of player who can get you a bucket at any time, Crawford just hasn’t received the national attention he deserves coming off the bench the majority of his career. He will likely never make an All-Star team, but three Sixth Man of the Year awards should prove to everyone that Jamal Crawford can ball.

Similar to Mike Conley, Monta Ellis has been the victim of playing in a conference with so many great guards. An excellent scorer, Ellis was deserving of an All-Star selection in 2015 with the Mavs, as he averaged 20.2 points, 4.4 assists and two steals per game. Unfortunately, he just didn’t quite make the cut.

A double-double machine, former Royals, Pistons and Lakers forward Happy Hairston never made it to an All-Star game. For whatever reasons, he could just never break through with the voters and coaches.

A point guard who could pass, shoot and defend, Derek Harper could never quite get enough attention to make an All-Star team. Playing his best years with the Mavericks, you almost always penciled in Harper for 18 points, seven assists and several steals a night. Still, it wasn’t enough to land him on an All-Star team.

Typically speaking, when an NBA player scores better than 20 points per game, he’s a shoo-in to make the NBA All-Star game. Not for Ron Harper. Harper averaged more than 20 points four different times in his career but never found himself on an All-Star roster.

There is no questioning whether or not power forward Serge Ibaka has the talent to make an All-Star team, just whether he’ll get enough time with the ball in his hands to prove he is worthy of the honor. As part of the Thunder, he played with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, severely limiting the number of touches he got per game and basically killing his All-Star prospects. Still, Ibaka is only 29 years old, so there might still time for the big man to make an All-Star team.

After Michael Jordan’s second retirement in 1998, Bulls forward Toni Kukoc was expected to blossom into an NBA star. It didn’t happen. Kukoc put up solid numbers and would have likely been an All-Star in 1999, but the game was canceled due to a players strike.

The MVP of the 1981 NBA Finals, former Celtics small forward Cedric Maxwell never made it to an NBA All-Star game. A tremendous two-way player, he was likely the victim of playing at a time in the Eastern Conference when the forward position was loaded.

At one time the oldest player in the NBA, former Timberwolves guard Andre Miller somehow never made an All-Star team. He came closest to receiving the honor in 2002 with the Cavs, when he averaged 16.5 points and a league-leading 10.9 assists per game. A player with an amazingly high basketball IQ as well, it’s a shame Miller never appeared in an All-Star game.

The all-time winningest coach in NBA history, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Don Nelson was a pretty darn good player as well. He was key during five different championship runs with the Celtics and was a fantastic shooter from the outside. Still, Nelson never found his name on an All-Star roster as a player.

An immensely talented player, forward Lamar Odom never could get enough momentum going to make an All-Star team. He was an integral part of the 2009 and 2010 championship Lakers teams in Los Angeles but never quite got the respect he deserved over the course of his NBA career.

Former Mavericks, Lakers, Sonics and Pacers big Sam Perkins quietly had an impressive NBA career. Perkins played 18 quality seasons in the league but was never named to an All-Star team.

If Drazen Petrovic had not tragically died in an automobile accident in 1993, there is no question the Croatian star would have made an All-Star game. Sadly, his untimely death at age 28 put an end to the life of a player beloved by his peers. Petrovic’s best season in the NBA came with the Nets in 1993 when he averaged 22.3 points per game.

A talented but volatile player, Isaiah Rider averaged 20.4 points per game as a 23-year-old with the Timberwolves. Unfortunately, he would never match that production for the rest of his career and despite his great talent, he never made an All-Star team.

“Give the people what they want!” Well, apparently Jalen Rose’s catch phrase never applied to him making an All-Star team. Rose did, however, deserve to represent the Bulls in the East in 2003, when he averaged 22.1 points per game.

Had Arvydas Sabonis not debuted in the NBA at the age of 31, he likely would have made his way onto an All-Star team. Born in the former USSR, Sabonis could not make the move to the NBA until his prime years were coming to an end. If he had played in the NBA during his 20s, who knows what the big man could have accomplished.

Former head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers and former Lakers guard Byron Scott came closest to making an NBA All-Star team in 1988 when he averaged 21.7 points per game. For whatever reason, however, it just wasn’t enough, and the honor was never bestowed upon Scott over the course of his 14-year career.

Playing his best years for the Atlanta Hawks, power forward Josh Smith could do a little bit of everything in his prime. He could score, grab rebounds, block shots, disrupt passing lanes and, boy, could he ever dunk. The only thing Smith wasn’t able to do was receive an All-Star selection. He last played for the Pelicans, but his days of All-Star consideration were long gone by then.

A diminutive point guard out of Arizona, Damon Stoudamire quickly made a name for himself in the NBA with the Toronto Raptors, averaging 20.2 points and 8.8 assists per game in 1997. Despite those lofty numbers, however, Stoudamire never made an All-Star team.

Perhaps the victim of playing his best years for a small-market West Coast team in the Portland Trail Blazers, point guard Rod Strickland never received the national attention he deserved. Strickland’s most painful All-Star snub came in 1998, when he led the NBA in assists with 10.5 per game.

Although he may have never had an individual season over the course of his career that was deserving of an All-Star selection, Jason Terry is still one of the best NBA players never to play in an All-Star game. A career 14.6 point per game scorer, Terry is fifth all time in three-pointers made.

Power forward Orlando Woolridge averaged over 20 points per game four different times in his NBA career, including 25.1 a night for the Denver Nuggets in 1991. Still, for some strange reason, Woolridge never found himself on an All-Star team. He died in 2012 of heart disease.