National Basketball Association

Nowitzki to replace Davis in All-Star Game; Harden, Thompson to start

Published Feb. 11, 2015 11:47 p.m. ET

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The starters for the NBA All-Star Game were announced nearly three weeks ago, and the All-Star break has yet to officially begin. But late Wednesday evening saw a flurry of activity on one conference’s roster, with an MVP candidate and one of the league's best shooters named starters, and a future Hall of Famer replacing perhaps the game's best young star because of injury.

Houston's James Harden, the league's leading scorer and a leading MVP candidate, was named a starter by Golden State head coach Steve Kerr, who’s heading the West squad, replacing injured Lakers star Kobe Bryant for Sunday’s game at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the NBA announced Wednesday.

Kerr named one of his own players, shooting guard Klay Thompson, as a starter, as well, replacing injured Blake Griffin of the Clippers.

But Pelicans forward Anthony Davis, the NBA's leading shot-blocker, announced in a statement he has decided to sit the game out, wanting to instead focus on his recovery from a sprained right shoulder, which has sidelined him for two games.

Hours later, the NBA announced Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki would replace Davis, making it the 13th All-Star Game for the 7-foot German and No. 7 scorer in NBA history.

Davis, 21, injured when he crashed to the floor after an alley-oop dunk against the Bulls on Saturday, thanked fans for voting him into the game as a starter and still plans to fly to New York for All-Star festivities this weekend. Before his injury, Davis had planned on participating in both the game and All-Star Saturday night.

It will be the second consecutive All-Star start for Harden and his third overall selection to the game. It will be Thompson's first career All-Star Game.

Harden entered Wednesday averaging 27.7 points per game while adding 6.8 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game for a Rockets team which is third in the Western Conference at 36-16 despite center Dwight Howard missing 20 games (and counting) due to injury.

Harden, 25, is also leading the league in free throws made (426), 40-point games (six) and 30-point games (24).

Thompson, 25, is 10th in the league at 22.2 ppg and is sixth in 3-point shooting (.441). He is the only three-time winner of the Western Conference Player of the Week this season, and will also take part in the 3-point contest Saturday night.

Most notably, Thompson set an NBA record on Jan. 23 when he scored 37 points in a quarter, hitting all 13 of his field goals -- including 9 of 9 from beyond the arc -- in the third quarter against the Sacramento Kings. It broke the record for points in any quarter by four (33 held by both George Gervin and Carmelo Anthony).

Thompson's teammate Stephen Curry, another MVP front-runner, was selected by fans to start the game. It will be the first time since 1967 (Rick Barry and Nate Thurmond) that two Warriors will start an All-Star Game together. The last time two Warriors made the same All-Star Game was 1993, when Tim Hardaway and Chris Mullin made the game.

Bryant, 36, will miss the game with a torn rotator cuff, an injury which is expected to cost him the rest of the season. Griffin, 25, underwent surgery Monday to remove a staph infection from his right elbow and is expected to miss at least three weeks.

Before Davis' announcement, Pelicans coach Monty Williams said he would have supported Davis playing in the game if he felt healthy enough by the weekend, stressing that his leading scorer, rebounder and shot blocker had earned that right.

The 36-year-old Nowitzki, who is averaging 18.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, went to 11 straight All-Star games before missing in 2013 after he sat out the first 27 games recovering from right knee surgery. He went again last year.

Earlier this season, Nowitzki joined Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan as the only players to score 27,000 points with one franchise.

Memphis' Marc Gasol was also voted in to start for the West.

-- The Associated Press contributed to this report

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