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Bradley Beal on Carmelo Anthony making All-Star game: ‘The process of it does not make sense’

Washington Wizards v New York Knicks

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 25: Carmelo Anthony #7 of the New York Knicks guards Bradley Beal #3 of the Washington Wizards in the first half of their game at Madison Square Garden on December 25, 2014 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)

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Anecdotally, the most popular choice to replace an injured Kevin Love in the All-Star game: Bradley Beal.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s actual choice: Carmelo Anthony.

Beal, via Candace Buckner of The Washington Post:

“I’ll never say a player doesn’t deserve to be on the all-star team. For one, Carmelo is a great player. Hell, he’s been one of the best offensive threats in the league for years now, and I’m taking absolutely nothing away from him. But the process of it does not make sense. If they reward winning, then I don’t understand how the decision was made,” Beal said Thursday morning. “It was kind of weird to me.”

For previous injury replacements, Silver has said he deferred to next player in the coaches’ reserve voting -- though I wonder whether Silver has sometimes just used that point to justify a selection he made for other reasons. Anthony is the biggest name available, which will raise questions, fair or not.

But I wouldn’t be surprised if Anthony was eighth in the coaches’ vote, one spot behind initial reserve selection. He’s an established veteran, and coaches tend to reward those.

Still, Beal is playing better than Anthony, especially lately. Since All-Star reserves were announced, Beal has averaged 24 points per game, shooting 55% from the field and 45% on 3-pointers, and the Wizards have gone 8-1.

Silver should have considered that, even though coaches didn’t have the opportunity.

Then again, maybe he did and still picked Anthony. Maybe Silver just followed the coaches. Maybe he judged based on name recognition. The commissioner can pick All-Star injury replacements however he pleases.

In the absence of a transparent process, whether there’s a private process or not, we’ll get confusion like Beal’s.