The Chicago Bulls, admittedly for warranted reasons, are an overlooked team in this year's NBA landscape.
They're once again mired in mediocrity, sitting 10th in the Eastern Conference standings as of Jan. 5. They're not good enough to be in any postseason conversations but also not bad enough to be mentioned in any draft conversations. (Outside of the fact that they could lose their top-10 pick, but that's not a national topic—at least not yet.)
The storylines that do involve Chicago are obvious: Will the Bulls finally trade Zach LaVine? What about Nikola Vucevic? Lonzo Ball is healthy, one of the team's most important bench players and is on a $21.4 million expiring contract; will he be dealt before this year's trade deadline?
But certain aspects of Chicago's season are being unfairly overlooked, the most noticeable of which is Vucevic's career year.
The 34-year-old may not land the third All-Star berth of his career, but he's currently outplaying these three bigger names who have a better shot at "earning" a roster spot on this year's Eastern Conference squad.
Nikola Vucevic should get an All-Star nod over these 3 players
The 13-year veteran is scoring 20.4 points per game while grabbing 10.1 rebounds and dishing out 3.3 assists, numbers that aren't dramatically off from his career averages. He's played 34 of Chicago's 35 games, but he's also been consistently durable since entering the league in 2011.
Vucevic is once again one of the best offensive centers in the NBA.
This year, however, he's doing it with absurd efficiency. He's shooting a career-high 55.8 percent from the field and 43.6 percent from three. That second number trails only Nikola Jokic and Karl-Anthony Towns.
He deserves more All-Star love than:
Paolo Banchero
Is Banchero a better player than Vucevic? No doubt.
Has he been better this year? Well, he's played five total games. So not really.
The Orlando Magic, Vucevic's former team, have succeeded despite Banchero's (and Franz Wagner's) absence. They're fourth in the East at 21-15. They're a team on the rise, while the Bulls should be trending in the opposite direction.
That's not because of Banchero, however. Vucevic has only missed one game. By default, that should give the Bulls' big man a spot on the All-Star squad ahead of Orlando's.
Evan Mobley
The Cleveland Cavaliers are the best story that no one's talking about. They're 30-4 with a 4.5-game lead over the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics. They haven't lost since the beginning of December and are outscoring their opponents by 11.9 points a night.
Cleveland is led by the backcourt duo of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland; Garland is currently an All-Star snub himself.
Evan Mobley is the Cavaliers' third leading scorer and is one of the leading vote-getters among all Eastern Conference frontcourt players. There's no question he deserves consideration. But Vucevic is putting up better stats and is arguably more important to his team than Mobley.
Vooch is eighth among all centers in the NBA in scoring. Mobley is 12th. Vucevic is 12th in rebounding, while Mobley is 20th. Chicago's big man is 11th in assists; Mobley is 13th.
Yes, Mobley is a much better defensive player on a much better team. But statistically, he hasn't been as productive as Vucevic.
Joel Embiid
Embiid is getting All-Star votes on name recognition alone this season.
His Philadelphia 76ers have a worse record than the Bulls despite going into the year with championship aspirations after adding Paul George to the duo of Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.
Like Banchero (but far less surprising), Embiid has missed a large chunk of the season, playing in only 13 games. For reference, he's played fewer games than Vucevic and Chicago have won.
The Sixers center has shooting splits of 45/33/92 compared to Vucevic's 56/44/83. Vucevic is also outrebounding Embiid (10.1 to 7.9) and is turning the ball over half as often (1.6 to Embiid's 3.2).
Embiid has had far fewer opportunities which, in most cases, would lead to better average numbers if not toals. Not in this case. Yet, Philly's star center is in line for a potential All-Star berth, while Chicago's is on the outside looking in.
Let's face it—Vucevic is far less likely to be playing among his All-Star peers than any of these three players despite being more deserving.