De’Aaron Fox named as injury replacement for Giannis Antetokounmpo in the All-Star game
The Spurs’ reach at All-Star weekend keeps getting wider. With Giannis Antetokounmpo ruled out with a calf strain, Commissioner Adam Silver has selected Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox as his injury replacement. In one of the quirks from this USA vs. World format, Fox will replace Norman Powell on Team Stars, and Norman Powell will be moved to Team World to replace Giannis thanks to his Jamaican roots.
This will be Fox’s second All-Star appearance and first since 2022-23, when he made it as a Sacramento King. This season, he has averaged 19.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 1.3 steals in 45 games. After questions about his fit in the offseason, he has done a wonderful job of finding a balance between dominating and deferring, knowing when to feed the hot hand and when to take over himself, especially in the clutch.
Joining Fox in the All-Star game will be Victor Wembanyama as a starter for Team World and Mitch Johnson (who just yesterday spoke out about the Spurs only have one All-Star despite having the third best record in the league) as the coach of Team Stripes. Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper will be representing the Spurs in the Rising Stars Challenge, and Harper will join his father and brother — Ron Harper, Sr. and Jr., respectively — in the Shooting Stars Challenge. Finally, Carter Bryant will be in the Slam Dunk Contest. The only event the Spurs are not represented in is the Three-Point Contest.
All-Star weekend will take place this weekend at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. You can check out the entire schedule here. Rising Stars will be on Friday, February 13 beginning at 8:00 PM CT on ESPN. Saturday will feature Shooting Stars starting at 4:00 PM CT, followed by the 3-point Shootout and Slam Dunk Contest, and finally the All-Star Game on Sunday, beginning at 4:00 PM CT.
Congrats to Fox, and even though it’s as an injury replacement, it’s more than deserved!
