Dirk Nowitzki not selected to the 2016 NBA All-Star Game

The NBA All-Star reserves were announced on Thursday and Dirk Nowitzki was not selected, leaving the 26-22 Mavericks without an All-Star this season barring an injury substitution.

In addition to the starters -- Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard -- the West will be represented by Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, James Harden, Chris Paul, DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis and LaMarcus Aldridge.

There are reasonable cases that Nowitzki deserves a spot over Thompson, Harden, Davis and Aldridge, all of whom have seen their numbers fall off this season. Then again, so has Dirk, who is 37 and probably doesn't mind taking a week's worth of vacation instead of going to Toronto.

Although there's a chance Dirk would be an injury replacement, none of the All-Stars currently need to miss the game (this would have been the situation if Blake Griffin had been voted in, for example).

While the Mavericks won't have a starter, Zaza Pachulia came very, very close to getting voted into the starting lineup by fans, only missing by 14,000 votes. Pachulia, of course, really wasn't worthy, but here's how it almost happened. The Mavs will have at least one representative in Toronto, though, as Canadian Dwight Powell was selected to participate in the Rising Stars Challenge.