Devin Booker named injury replacement for Anthony Davis on 2021 NBA All-Star roster

It’s been long assumed that Anthony Davis’ injury would force him to sit out the 2021 All-Star Game, and there would have been riots in the city of Phoenix (and possibly Lexington) had Devin Booker not been the one to take his place.

Well put down those pitchforks and Adam Silver hate letters because Booker was officially named as Davis’ replacement on Wednesday night. The NBA confirmed the news, handing Booker his second All-Star appearance after making the cut for the first time a season ago. The 24-year old former Kentucky Wildcat is posting a career season alongside fellow All-Star Chris Paul as the duo have the Suns cruising with the fourth-best record in the entire league.

https://twitter.com/Suns/status/1364725913858887680

During 26 games this season, Booker is averaging 24.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 4.3 assists on a shooting split of 50.1/38.1/84.8 for the 20-10 Suns.

After news broke on Tuesday night that Booker was initially left off the list of Western Conference reserves, his peers were not happy about it. Even LeBron James stood up for Book, tweeting out that he was the most “disrespected player in our league”. In years past, the argument against Booker was that he put up empty stats on a bad team. But despite putting up his most efficient shooting numbers in his six-year career on a playoff-caliber squad, Booker would have been snubbed once again if not for an Achilles injury scare to Davis.

Booker joins Eastern Conference All-Star Julius Randle, who was named a reserve for the first time in his career on Tuesday.