The 2026 All-Star Weekend will have a first-time venue this year, as it heads to the Los Angeles Clippers' home of the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, and a new All-Star game format will be introduced this season. While players like Steph Curry and LeBron James will be playing, the new age of stars will be looking to make their mark.

Every year, the conclusion of All-Star voting and the release of the starters and reserves is met by criticism. Most of the time, it's a situation of too many good players and not enough spots, but there are also instances where the players that are snubbed seem just too good not to be there.

Sunday marked the release of the 2026 All-Star reserves from the East and Western conferences, with Clippers star duo of Kawhi Leonard and James Harden being omitted from the list. The West reserves feature three first-time selections in Deni Avdija, Jamal Murray, and Chet Holmgren.

While Harden's case seems to fall under the too many good players and not enough spots category, Kawhi's omission is the most head-scratching of them. Before the Clippers' 117-93 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday, head coach Ty Lue responded to Leonard's omission with his blunt statement.

“Congratulations to all the guys that made it. They all deserve it, as well. But Kawhi, I think, to me, the last six weeks has been the best player in the NBA," Lue said.

Even though many would expect Lue to be biased in a situation like this, his case for Leonard being the best player in the NBA over the last six weeks holds some validity.

Since November 28th (excluding Sunday's contest), Leonard has averaged 29.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 2.0 steals per game on 49.7/39.4/92.8 shooting splits and helping the Clippers get back into the playoff race in the Western Conference.

Some may point to Leonard's missed games, but he's played more than LeBron James, who was selected ahead of him.

Additionally, Leonard's 27.7 points per game average was the highest among players not selected to be an All-Star this season, as his scoring average ranks second among Western Conference reserves and higher than two starters in the West as well.

Nevertheless, Leonard seems like the most likely option to be named an alternate in the case that one of the 12 players from the West isn't healthy for the game (unless said player is a Team World representative).

A Clippers team that was written off a quarter of the way through the season, having both Leonard and Harden snubbed from the All-Star roster, might just be all the motivation they need to continue climbing the standings.