Top 10 players who never made it to an NBA All-Star team

#4 Purvis Short

Purvis Short was a solid scorer in the NBA.

Purvis Short's presence in this list is not a case of the player having a better career than the likes of Toni Kukoc, Arvydas Sabonis or Byron Scott. However, his 1984-85 season with the Golden State Warriors, a struggling team back then, should have merited him an NBA All-star spot

Short averaged 28 points per game with the Warriors, with five rebounds and three assists per game. While the Warriors only won 22 games that campaign, Short's season was stunning. However, the West's small forwards in the NBA All-star that season were Adrian Dantley and Alex English, two members of the Hall of Fame.

Short career averages were not poor either; he averaged 17 points, four rebounds, and three assists on 47% shooting.

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#3 Ron Harper

Ron Harper with the Cavs

Though Ron Harper is remembered for winning five NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls and the LA Lakers from 1996 to 2001, he was practically a 20-5-5 player in the first eight years of his career, though those years did not include team success.

With the Cleveland Cavaliers and the LA Clippers, Harper had averages of 19 points, five rebounds and five assists per game in 532 games, numbers that could have brought him an NBA All-star appearance.

His best season was in the 1989-90 campaign when he started with Cleveland and then was traded to the Clippers for Danny Ferry and Reggie Williams. During that campaign, he averaged 22.8 points, six rebounds and five assists per game.

Nevertheless, he did not appear in the NBA All-star game as the guards for the West comprised of the likes of Magic Johnson, Clyde Drexler, John Stockton, Chris Mullin, Kevin Johnson and even Fat Lever and Rolando Blackman.

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#2 Rod Strickland

Rod Strickland was a great finisher close to the basket.

Rod Strickland was known for his unique finishes around the basket and for being a highly talented dribbler. However, an NBA All-star appearance never happened for the talented point guard.

Congrats to @CP3 of the @LAClippers on passing ROD STRICKLAND (7,987 assists) for 10th on the #NBA All-Time Assists List! #ThisIsWhyWePlay pic.twitter.com/rHWclggqOD

— NBA (@NBA) January 7, 2017

Strickland's career averages - 13 points and seven assists per game - were impressive during his 16-year career, and he had tremendous seasons during his peak.

His best years were between 1990 and 1999 when he put up numbers of 16 points and nine assists per game. He even led the league in assists in the 1997-98 season with 18 points, 10 assists and five rebounds per game, but the Washington Wizards missed the NBA Playoffs by just one game.

During the 1998 NBA ASG, the guards for the East were Michael Jordan, Penny Hardaway, Reggie Miller, Tim Hardaway and Steve Smith, which meant that despite his style of play and touch, Strickland missed out.

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#1 Cedric Maxwell

Larry Bird and Cedric Maxwell

From 1978 to 1982, Cedric Maxwell averaged 16.5 points per game in the small forward position on 58% shooting.

During that stretch, Maxwell was the 1981 NBA Finals MVP with the Boston Celtics, averaging 18 points and ten rebounds per game while leading the team in both categories. However, there was no NBA All-star game for him despite conjuring such numbers for a big team.

Kobe greets @celtics legend Cedric Maxwell! #LALatBOS pic.twitter.com/YVr4ipmkq7

— NBA (@NBA) December 31, 2015

Maxwell had his best year in his second season in the NBA when he averaged 19 points and ten rebounds per game while leading the league in FG with 58% and in offensive rating with 121. Surely an NBA All-star appearance could have been in the cards but was not to be.

During that year, he probably deserved NBA All-star recognition, but the timing was not right for him as the two leading small forwards in the East at the time were Julius Erving and George Gervin who played in the semi-finals that year and made the NBA All-star team as well.

Most of the other small forwards during that year's NBA All-star game - Bob Dandridge or Campy Russell for example - had better numbers than Maxwell. The timing was just not right for him.

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