Damian Lillard “frustrated” with All-Star snubs

It seemed pretty obvious to most: In picking the two All-Star starting guards in the Western Conference, you couldn’t go wrong with any combination of Stephen Curry, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook (Curry and Harden got the nods).

When it comes time for the coaches to pick the reserves (announced next Tuesday) they will select Westbrook. However, Damian Lillard might not make that cut.

Lillard said he’s frustrated but resigned to not making the All-Star Game (he’s missed it the last three), he told ESPN.

“I’ve gotten frustrated just for the fact that it feels like I always got to be the fall guy and every other guy has been deserving,” Lillard tells ESPN. “In the past, the thing has been, ‘All right, my team has been 10 games under .500 or not in the playoffs,’ but every year we’ve found a way to be in the postseason, and this year I think we’re in much better position than we have been in the past two seasons that I didn’t make it. I think I’ve gotten over the emotional part of it the last few times that I didn’t make it. Now I’m kind of like expecting it to go that way, but I feel like I should be there.”

Lillard was not going to be a starter, and if you want to blame someone for that blame the fans who had him eighth (worse than players or media) — behind Lonzo Ball and Manu Ginobili.

"(Ball) plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most, if not the most, storied franchises in that big of a market,” Lillard explained to ESPN. “So, so many people are going to support him throughout that, and also with his dad and all the attention that’s been surrounding him since college. There’s a lot of people that follow him, so, that’s not really a surprise to me. The market size and what’s going on with his family, it’s no surprise really to me.”

Lillard deserves to be an All-Star — he’s averaging 25 points per game, plus he’s dishing out 6.5 assists per night, and his defense has improved.

Whether he makes it is another story. The Western Conference is STACKED. When the coaches pick the seven West reserves, they have to take two guards, three frontcourt players, then two wild-cards. Westbrook and Jimmy Butler are locks to get selected as All-Star Game reserves at the West. That leaves one or two of the wild-card slots for guards, and both Klay Thompson and Lou Williams have legitimate cases to make the team, too.

Lillard would be a snub. So will whichever one of those guards gets left off. There is just too much talent in the West.