7 NBA Players Who Can Be First-Time All-Stars

Last year saw a remarkable six players make their first NBA All-Star appearances, so we decided to embrace optimism by highlighting seven who could do the same in 2026-27.

The previous season's field of first-timers—Deni Avdija, Jalen Duren, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Johnson, Jamal Murray and Norman Powell—is instructive, populated mostly by players in their early 20s, but with some established vets sprinkled in.

The takeaway: It's never too early or too late to make a leap.

From second-year studs like Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper to 30-something role-players like Derrick White, first-time All-Star candidates can come in all shapes, ages and sizes. Let's dig into the upcoming season's breakthrough crew.

Shooting percentages aside, Cooper Flagg's stats were probably good enough to earn him an All-Star nod last season. Teenager or not, averages of 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.9 blocks were eye-opening.

Flagg will need to do better than 29.5 percent from deep, which should be within his abilities if Kyrie Irving is able to lighten some of the ball-handling load. Maybe new head coach Dusty May will also look to draw up more schemes that allow Flagg to use his speed, power and cutting acumen to get some easy looks around the basket.

In addition to potential efficiency gains, Flagg should also be in line to meet expectations as a defender. That's not typically the kind of thing that leads to All-Star berths, but Flagg fell way short of the defensive impact many anticipated from him coming out of Duke. Though disappointing, it was hardly his fault. Dallas burdened him with a massive offensive job that sapped his physical and mental energy.

At the very least, a more reasonable role for Flagg could produce more highlight defensive plays and wins, earning attention and votes.

It's not easy for sophomores to make the All-Star Game, and it's even tougher for those that'll play the first two months of the season at age 19. But Flagg seems like a special talent. If anyone's going to buck trends, it'll be him.

The Los Angeles Lakers' $180 million investment in Austin Reaves comes with All-Star-level expectations.

The five-year veteran probably would have had a shot to earn his first nod if he hadn't gone down for the better part of six weeks in mid-December with a calf strain. Up through Dec. 10, he was averaging 27.8 points, 6.7 assists and 5.6 rebounds on a 50.3/36.9/87.5 shooting split.

During that season-opening surge, Reaves looked very much like a first-option superstar whenever he had to carry the load without Luka Dončić or LeBron James.

Dončić is back with the Lakers, but James isn't. That should mean more touches and opportunities for Reaves, doubly so if Luka can't stay healthy.

Smack in the middle of his prime at age 28, Reaves' career has featured flashes of exceptional three-point shooting, primary-playmaker facilitation and a ton of self-sufficient scoring skill. If he puts all of that together in 2026-27, he'll join Dončić as an All-Star.

If Franz Wagner slips back below 30.0 percent from three, his first-time All-Star case will become much harder to make.

But if we journey back to the first 25 games of 2024-25, which might be the last time Franz Wagner was fully healthy, there's reason to believe that a) his jumper hasn't always been busted, and b) he's long overdue for an All-Star trip.

Wagner was basically an All-NBA first-teamer through early December 2024, averaging 24.4 points, 5.7 assists and 5.6 rebounds while hitting a borderline respectable 32.1 percent of his 6.4 deep attempts per game.

Injuries struck, Wagner missed almost two months, and he wasn't the same upon returning. Last year was another injury-marred mess, but he managed to hit 34.5 percent of his threes in 34 games.

Between his first two years of roughly league-average shooting, the flashes of stardom he showed in 2024-25 and a career free-throw percentage of 85.1 percent, Wagner has plenty of positive indicators. He'll always be a handful going downhill, he can pass the ball and is in the early part of his prime at 25.

If he can iron out the hitch in his long-range shot, Wagner is going to perform at least as well as he did during that career-best stretch two seasons ago. As long as the Orlando Magic are playing winning ball by the time voting concludes, that should be enough to earn Wagner his All-Star debut.

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If Jaden McDaniels makes his first All-Star team, there's a good chance that basically everything will have gone right for the Minnesota Timberwolves during the first half of the season.

A nod for him would probably mean LaMelo Ball delivered the exact kind of teammate-lifting facilitation the Wolves expected, so much so that McDaniels would join him and Anthony Edwards in the All-Star game. If Minnesota sends three representatives to Phoenix, it'll almost certainly have to be near the top of the West standings.

McDaniels' defense has been elite for years, and he's tantalized with postseason flashes of self-sufficient work on offense more than once. With Julius Randle gone and Ball tending to generate great looks for his teammates, McDaniels could be in for elevated shot quantity and quality.

Just 26 years old, coming off three straight years of improved scoring averages and already generating a ton of preseason hype , McDaniels has virtually every "potential leap" factor working in his favor.

The cosmetic stats—23.6 points and 6.1 assists—were there last year, but Keyonte George can make them count for something if he produces similarly on a Utah Jazz team that actually wins some games.

He can do that this season as Utah shifts its focus toward winning.

George is a threat to hit pull-up threes, and that threshold skill unlocks all the other valuable aspects of his offensive game. Because defenders have to worry about him beyond the arc (37.1 percent last season), George is often positioned to attack opponents who are leaning toward him in fear of his jumper.

George is quick off the dribble and can get into space easily, which is how he piled up 7.0 free-throw attempts per game last year. In addition to developing his craft as a foul-drawer, George is also adept at flipping in runners and floaters. If he chooses to give the ball up rather than challenge at the rim, his lob game makes him a threat as a passer.

The Jazz could put several names into the All-Star hat this season, including Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. George, a potential first-timer, might be the team's most worthy representative.

Though teammate Stephon Castle has the edge in experience (by a year) and amassed superior counting stats that owed to his larger starting role last season, Dylan Harper is the Spurs guard with the highest upside.

The lefty was San Antonio's second-best player during long stretches of the 2026 postseason, flashing every element you'd want to see from a future first-option shot creator. Quickness, craft, creativity, force around the basket, vision—it was all there on the biggest stage.

There's just no chance Harper's development will slow down as he enters his second season. Give him the minutes, and he'll outproduce both Castle and De'Aaron Fox.

Do you know how many 19-year-olds have averaged at least 18.0 points, 6.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds per 36 while posting a true shooting percentage north of 57.0 percent? Just one: Harper.

Do you know how many of those players went on to make an All-Star appearance at age 20?

OK, so far: zero. That's about to change, though.

I, for one, refuse to believe Derrick White forgot how to shoot a basketball.

Last year's percentages (39.4 percent overall and 32.7 percent from long range) would beg to differ, but it's going to take more than one outlier to cause any real alarm.

White is entering his age-32 season, which certainly raises the specter of athletic decline. But shooting? No way. Expect the veteran guard to come much closer to the form he showed in his first three full years with Boston, when he hit 38.1, 39.6 and 38.4 percent of his threes, respectively.

With Jaylen Brown gone, White could also see a higher share of shots and playmaking duties. If he continues to rate as one of the best catch-all-metric players in the sport, gets his three-point shooting back to its previous level and does both for a Boston Celtics team near the top of the East when voting concludes, you've got a recipe for a late-career All-Star debut.

Stats courtesy of NBA.com , Basketball Reference and Cleaning the Glass . Salary info via Spotrac .

Grant Hughes covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, where he appears with Bleacher Report's Dan Favale .