Revisiting Gilbert Arenas' Claim About Khris Middleton's All-Star Status

Khris Middleton against the Warriors

Last season the Milwaukee Bucks were the number one seed in the Eastern Conference with a 60-22 and the best team during the 2018-19 regular season. The Bucks were led by the NBA’s reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo along with Khris Middleton.

Middleton last season averaged 18.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists per game in 77 games for the Milwaukee Bucks, and was named an All-Star. This past summer, Middleton signed a five-year extension worth $178 million to stay in Milwaukee for the seeable future, according to Heavy’s Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson.

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Gilbert Arenas on Middleton Being named a 2018-19 All-Star

This past August, during a phone interview, I asked Arenas did he feel Middleton deserved an All-Star selection last season. Arenas replied, “Middleton averaged three fewer points this year.”

“His free-throw rate was worse, but he makes the All-Star team? Huh…How? You can’t evaluate things off team success if the individual is not playing that great. Okay, Milwaukee is number one so, we are going to pick the two best players on the team to be in the All-Star game.

That is not how things are supposed to work. The second best player’s year is worse than the year before. If someone looked at the stats, they would say how do we have an All-star this year because everything is down across the board,” Arenas told me.

The Bucks were in Dallas last season when the 2018-19 All-Star team participates were announced. Before the game, Middleton instructed the media to talk to his teammate and decline to discuss his all-star selection. After hearing that, Arenas said he deserved to be an All-Star after understanding that he should not have been one.

“With that being said, he deserves an All-Star for understanding he wasn’t one. You see how that works, knowing that he personally didn’t deserve it because he was having a bad year. He knew it, so he gave credit to his teammates. If it wasn’t for them winning, he wouldn’t have made it. Now to me, he is an All-Star for understanding that,” Arenas said.

Back on October 11, 2019, I asked Middleton to respond to Arenas’ comments praising him for recognizing that he shouldn’t have been named an All-Star last season, but he declined to respond.

Does Middleton Deserve an All-Star nod This Season ?

Once again this season the Milwaukee Bucks hold the best record in the NBA at 41-6 with Giannis Antetokounmpo averaging 30.1 points 12.9 rebounds, and 5.6 assists while shooting 32.1 percent from behind the arc. However, through 40 games this season for the Bucks, Khris Middleton is averaging careers highs across the board. According to Basketball-Reference.com, he is averaging 20.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 50.3 percent from the field, 43.2 percent from behind the arc, and 90.0 percent from the free-throw line.

Last season the Bucks record through 47 games was 35-12. Middleton has proven that he deserves All-Star consideration, especially after dropping a career-high 51 points against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night. He also added 10 rebounds and six assists. The Bucks went on to beat the Wizards 151-131.