The best and most recent NBA players to miss out on All-Star selection

In a league of over 400 players, it's hard to become part of the elite 22 players to be selected for the NBA All-Star game every season.

With fans and analysts voting, it may take a few years for the hype to become real, but for these players, every season in the NBA they were overlooked, despite how dominant they were.

Here are the best and most recent NBA players who never earned an All-Star selection.

Josh Smith was a problem on both ends of the floor, known for electric dunks and elite shot-blocking ability. Smith had numerous all-star caliber seasons, with the 2006-07 and 2011-12 seasons being more than worthy.

Smith averaged more than 15 points a game in eight NBA seasons, with his highest PPG coming in 2012, finishing with averages of 18.8 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game. In 2007, he averaged a staggering 2.9 blocks per game but never became an all-star.

Selected 40th in the 2005 NBA Draft, Monta Ellis won the 2007 NBA Most Improved Player, but even becoming one of the league's best scorers wasn't enough to earn an all-star selection.

In back-to-back seasons for Golden State between 2009 and 2011, Ellis averaged 25.5 and 24.1 points per game, ranking as the sixth most prolific scoring guard and second in steals (2.23 SPG).

Rudy Gay is one of the most hard done by players to receive an all-star selection in NBA history to not receive an all-star selection after ten years of elite scoring.

Between 2007 and 2017, Rudy Gay never averaged below 17 points in a season, with his best coming in 2015 for Sacramento after averaging 21.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 3.7 assists. In the 2012 playoffs for Memphis, he averaged 19 PPG.

Not many NBA players can say they were awarded an All-NBA selection but never an All-Star selection, but 14-season NBA veteran Al Jefferson can.

Jefferson had multiple seasons of averaging more than 20 points, but in 2014 after winning multiple Eastern Conference Player of the Month awards and averaging 22 points, Jefferson was awarded a place in the NBA All-Third team, but not the all-star teams!

Although championship success came at the tail end of Richard Jefferson's career as an experienced veteran for the Cleveland Cavaliers, the former small forward was a starting asset for the New Jersey Nets in the early 2000s.

In his second season in the NBA, Jefferson averaged 15.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in the Nets run to the NBA Finals, starting 100 games that season. In seven seasons, Jefferson didn't average below 15 PPG.

Lou Williams is the greatest NBA Sixth Man of all time, winning the Sixth Man of the Year award on three occasions and being the NBA's career leader in points off the bench since 2019 (13,396).

Williams' elite impact off the bench was most noticeable for the LA Clippers between 2017 and 2020, where in 2018, he averaged 22.6 PPG off the bench, leading the Clippers in that category and taking them to a .500 record (42-40).

Like Lou Williams, Jamal Crawford became the first player to win the Sixth Man of the Year on three occasions and displayed performances off the bench that warranted at least one all-star appearance.

Crawford is known for his street style of basketball, and it's a shame that no one got to see Crawford play in a more relaxed setting like the all-star game to show his true creativity.