Since winning the division gains you an automatic bid to the playoffs, it could be fun to look at which of the six divisions — and two conferences — have the biggest superstars as we enter the halfway point of our setup auction.
Methodology: I just pulled the All-NBA lists from the last four years, which was fifteen players per season. Still, four years is a long time in NBA life so there are some questionable selections here. But hey, what can you do, we’re trying to be objective here!
In the last four years, there were thirty unique All-NBA selections, aka “superstars. However, we have to disregard DeMarcus Cousins and Isaiah Thomas from the mix as they have yet to be picked up by a RDA team and it’s pretty likely they aren’t superstars anymore. Or even in the league. Ahem. So that leaves twenty-eight superstars we're looking at. Here's the full list.
After some careful analysis, the short answer to "where are the superstars" is this: The Eastern Conference has more superstars, but the West has the better ones. In a matchup between the two conferences, the rosters would look like this:
• The average price for these twenty-eight superstars would have been $80 each, with a low of $19 for DeAndre Jordan or John Wall, and a high of $159 for Giannis.
• If you wanted to make a team of the top thirteen superstars (from Giannis to LeBron), it would have cost a total of $1435, and $110 average per player. The next thirteen (Kyrie to CP3) would have been $755 with an average of $58.
• Unlike the real NBA, it seems like there are slightly more superstars in the East, with fifteen to the West’s thirteen. However, even with two less superstars, the West has the brighter lights, as their thirteen players have an accumulated worth of $1174 to the East’s $1054 for their full fifteen. That’s an average of $90 versus $70, respectively.
• Five of the $100+, aka “century,” superstars reside in the West while the East contains only three. It’s Giannis, Anthony Davis, Jokic, Harden, and Embiid versus KAT, Steph, and Lillard for the century guys face-off.
• Six teams have multiple superstars: BKN, GSW, MIL, SAC, TOR, UTA. Of those, only MIL has three, which are Victor Oladipo, Klay Thompson, and John Wall.
• Nine teams don’t have an All-NBA defined superstar on their roster: BOS, CHA, DET, HOU, LAC, LAL, OKC, PHX, WAS
Average price of each division's superstars:
- East /Atlantic: $92
- East / Southeast: $75
- East / Central: $45
- West / Southwest, $93
- West / Northwest, $92
- West / Pacific, $87
• For the West, the Northwest leads the way with five superstars in Davis, Jokic, Gobert, Durant, and Lowry. However the highest average price of superstars is actually from the Southwest division, with their foursome consisting of Giannis, Embiid, Kawhi, and um, DeAndre Jordan. And while the Pacific has the lowest auction average per superstar in the West, their fantastic four of Harden, Paul George, Jimmy Butler, and LaMarcus are good bets to repeat for 2020’s three All-NBA teams, which is a feat no other division is likely to match.
So there you have it! If this game was only played with the last four seasons’ worth of All-NBA guys, this is how it would shake out. Some RDA teams would probably like that of course, but RDA is a thirteen player per team league so who knows if star power will win out at the end of the day. And let’s not forget that the many rising stars will shake things up dramatically.
So good job to the teams that drafted the best players from 2017-2019… And if any of the teams feel left out of the superstar party, Boogie is still available!
[Update 9/1]: DeMarcus went for $5 to DAL and Isaiah for $7 to MIN.