A Devin Booker All-Star Conspiracy Theory for the Phoenix Suns

Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker was given a late position in the All-Star Game when Damian Lillard went down. Could the switch have been part of a conspiracy?

The Phoenix Suns have not have an All-Star representative since Steve Nash in 2012, and Devin Booker has not only been the franchise’s best possibility for the past few years, but the only  potential selection since his entrance into the league.

Unfortunately, this year the team hasn’t been good enough to warrant national attention (thanks, Robert Sarver), so Book stood absolutely zero chance at being voted on by the fans.

Then (for some unknown reason) he was also not selected as a reserve, which appeared to not only continue the franchise’s streak of non-All-Star representation beyond eight calendar years, but he (and Bradley Beal) were set to become the first players to average over 27 points per game at the All-Star break to not make an All-Star team since Ronald Reagan was President of the United States (Purvis Short in 1984-85 – who you ask? Click on his name and find out – then come back here for the rest of the conspiracy).

Also, Booker’s scoring average dropped to below 27, so then there’s that.

Until, Damian Lillard‘s groin injury happened.

On a seemingly innocuous play at the end of the Portland Trailblazers loss at the Memphis Grizzlies (here is the link to the NBA.com recap of the game; I can’t help but marvel at the original Vancouver uniforms that Memphis is wearing and how much I love  them), Lillard pulled up lame, and instantly held his right groin in discomfrot.

Now, I do believe that he was hurt on that play – at least I believe that that play hurt.

However, there were less than four minutes remaining in the final game before the All-Star break, and the Blazers were all but completely out of it (Carmelo Anthony shot a crazy 1-15 from the field and the team finished shooting a lame 37-1% on the night).

Is it possible, that Lillard may have simply re-agitated an older injury, or hurt himself to the point that he knew he wouldn’t want  to play the final few minutes of a game in which absolutely nothing was going Portland’s way?

Could the injury have been nothing more than beautifully public timing, giving him the opportunity to miss a couple of events he really didn’t want to even participate in in the first place?