Not long after the skills contests and starting lineups were announced, the reserve selections chosen by the coaches were released as well.
With Butler staying in the West this past summer, combined with James and George heading west, the competition for Western Conference All-Star spots had become even more brutal.
The coaches had racked their brains over their selections.
The final list was equally unforgiving.
Western Conference reserves: Curry, Westbrook, Lillard, Jimmy Butler, George, Davis, and Embiid.
Stars with outstanding performances, such as Klay Thompson, Griffin, Towns, and Jokic, were all left out.
By comparison, the Eastern Conference was short on star power, making it arguably the bleakest it had been in recent years.
Eastern Conference reserves: Lowry, Beal, Russell, Devin Booker, Hayward, Randle, and Drummond.
Once the list was released, it sparked wave after wave of discussion among fans on social media.
After fans had loudly called for the East-West conferences to be merged before the season, they were now calling for the All-Star selections to be merged too.
However, matters involving Small market teams and their fan bases were not so easy to change.
And in places like Philadelphia and Chicago, fans were currently celebrating the fact that someone from their teams had made the All-Star Game after so many years.
With the All-Star Game starters and reserves both announced, fans would normally be able to sit back and wait for All-Star Weekend.
But the player draft added last year had become one of the biggest attractions before All-Star Weekend.
Tang Tian had selected an entire roster of Brothers of Hard Work last year. Whether he would keep doing that this year or take a different approach was worth watching.
And in the East, James had been replaced by Antetokounmpo.
This superstar, whom the media believed had a