Jalen Brunson continues to be recognized among the NBA’s elite.
He is an All-Star starter for the second straight year, the league announced on Monday. It is also Brunson’s third straight All-Star appearance.
Brunson, who is questionable for the Knicks’ clash against the Mavericks Monday night at Madison Square Garden with a right ankle sprain, entered Monday averaging 28.2 points and 6.1 assists per game on 48.1 percent shooting from the field and 38.8 percent shooting from 3-point range.
The All-Star game is a bit funky again this year — there will be three teams of eight players. Two of the teams will be made up of American players, while the other team will be a World team.
The top five vote-getters in each conference — regardless of position — were named starters. The next seven vote-getters from each conference — again, regardless of position — will be named reserves at a later date.
On the last released batch of voting returns earlier this month, Karl-Anthony Towns was the next-highest Knick with the seventh-most votes in the East. But he’s struggled in recent weeks, failing to make a case to jump into the top five to become an All-Star starter. He should be in good shape to be a reserve, though.
OG Anunoby was 13th, Mikal Bridges was 15th and Josh Hart was 16th on that last batch of results.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jaylen Brown, Cade Cunningham and Tyrese Maxey are the other starters from the East. Steph Curry, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic, Victor Wembanyama and Nikola Jokic are the five starters from the West.
