Today marked a big milestone in the new franchise player’s career. It was announced this evening that Jalen Johnson has been named to the bench of the Eastern Conference All-Stars for the first time in his career:
Having ascended to the number one option in Atlanta with Trae Young now in Washington D.C., Johnson is averaging career highs in the three traditional box score stats: points per game (23.4), assists per game (8.1) and rebounds per game (10.7).
Johnson is the only qualifying player averaging at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists per game this season. In fact, if he maintains these averages until the end of the season, he’ll be just the fifth player in NBA history to meet those marks in season after Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, Russell Westbrook, and Nikola Jokic.
He’s also shooting 50% from the field, 36% from three, and 78% from the free-throw line for a career-high 59% true shooting percentage. After struggling with injuries in the prior two seasons as a starter, Jalen Johnson has played in 46 of 51 games and is 11th in the league in minutes (1,636) as of this morning.
The fourteen Eastern and Western Conference reserves were selected from a combination of the fan, player, and media voting. The All-Star format won’t be the traditional East vs. West battle. Instead, it will consist of three teams in a round robin format where two teams are composed of U.S. players and the third of international players.
Congratulations to Jalen Johnson on this momentous achievement!