In mid to late January, the NBA announced the list of players selected for this season's All-Star Weekend.
The most eye-catching was naturally the roster for the main game.
In the Eastern Conference, the selected players were Vince Carter, Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady, Antoine Walker, Paul Pierce, Grant Hill, Alonzo Mourning, Jason Kidd, Dikembe Mutombo, Ray Allen, Baron Davis, and Jermaine O'Neal.
Since Hill was sidelined for the season, there was one more reserve spot up for grabs in the East All-Star starters, and the suspense was between Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Yu Fei.
All of a sudden, fans of the Wizards were over the moon—could Yu Fei actually have a shot at the All-Star game in his rookie season?
Even as a replacement selection, that was still the All-Star game!