12) Jason Kidd (nine appearances)
11) Steve Nash (seven appearances)

As much as All-Star Games over the years have been defined by great point guard performances, Kidd and Nash have surprisingly never earned the exhibition’s top honor. Nor can either of them make a solid case for it when you review their resumes. Kidd did accrue double-doubles in 2000 (while repping the Suns), 2003 (with the Nets), and 2004 (Nets again) but he was overshadowed by Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett in that first edition and on the losing side in the latter two. The main thing holding back Kidd’s MVP eligibility is the same issue afflicting Nash: lack of scoring. While Kidd had a career high 14 points in the 2000 All-Star Game, Nash never even reached double digit scoring in his seven appearances. He did dish out 13 assists in 2010 but his Western Conference team was defeated. 2009 may have been Nash’s best chance at All-Star glory in front of his home crowd in Phoenix but he was beat out in fan voting by Chris Paul and snubbed from the reserves. Both of these players have brought a trophy home from All-Star Weekend, with Kidd winning the inaugural Skills Competition in 2003 and Nash later winning it in 2005 and 2010.

10) James Harden (nine appearances)

When Russell Westbrook earned back-to-back All-Star MVPs in 2015 and 2016, the second best option each year was arguably Harden, his former Thunder teammate. Thus far Harden has not yet joined the cohort of high scoring shooting guards with All-Star MVP trophies, a list that includes George Gervin, Mitch Richmond, David Thompson, Dwyane Wade, and Kobe Bryant. His 29 points, eight assists, and eight rebounds in 2015 would typically be enough to earn MVP but Westbrook’s 41 points, 27 of which came in the first half, setting the All-Star Game record, won over voters instead. Harden’s 143 career All-Star Game points is third all-time amongst players without an MVP trophy, trailing only John Havlicek and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and his 52 career assists are second amongst non-MVPs behind only Jason Kidd.

9) Dolph Schayes (11 appearances)

A staple of early All-Star contests, Schayes was named to the roster in each of the first 12 editions (though he sat out in 1952 due to injury) and started in nine of them. In four of those games he compiled a double-double but never earned MVP. Part of the problem was that his best All-Star performance came in 1951, before the MVP trophy was established for the game. He posted 15 points and a game-high 14 rebounds that year, leading the East to an easy 111-94 win. Schayes also had impressive showings in winning efforts overshadowed by Bill Sharman in 1955, Bob Cousy in 1957, Bob Pettit in 1958, and Wilt Chamberlain in 1960. Adding insult to injury, when the NBA established the All-Star Game MVP in 1953, they handed out awards in retrospect for previous editions of the game, and gave the 1951 trophy to Boston’s Ed Macauley (who led the East with 20 points) over Schayes.

8) Stephen Curry (seven appearances)

You could argue that every time Curry takes the court it’s an All-Star style exhibition but it’s never translated into All-Star MVP. His best performance came in the 2016 edition in Toronto, when he helped the West to a blowout victory with 26 points and six assists but was overshadowed by longtime rival Russell Westbrook, who earned MVP with a 31 point, eight rebound, five assist performance. Curry was team captain in 2018, the first year the NBA employed the “school yard draft” format, but struggled in the game, finishing 4-of-14 from the field for just 11 points in a loss to Team LeBron. He came up huge in 2021 in Atlanta, with 28 points on 8-of-16 three-point shooting but was just beaten out by a better performance again, this one from Giannis Antetokounmpo, who finished with 35 points.

7) Patrick Ewing (nine appearances)
6) David Robinson (10 appearances)

Befitting both the nature of the contest and the changing style of the sport as a whole, only two centers, Shaquille O’Neal and Anthony Davis, have earned All-Star MVP in the last 40 years. Earning MVP as a center would require your guards to feed you offensively to rack up stats and All-Star Games are just not conducive to half court sets like that. Ewing averaged only around 11 points and six rebounds per game in nine All-Star appearances. His best performance came in 1994, just a few months before his one and only NBA Finals trip, when he dropped 20 points and eight rebounds off the bench in an East win but MVP was granted to Scottie Pippen. Robinson had better overall All-Star stats and peaked in 1993 with 21 points and 10 rebounds in a West victory. But the game was in Salt Lake City and hometown heroes John Stockton and Karl Malone were named co-MVPs. Robinson did eventually earn an All-Star trophy in 2008 when he teamed up with Tim Duncan and Becky Hammon to win the Shooting Stars Challenge.

“It’s rare to see the leading scorer on the winning team not earn All-Star MVP but that’s what happened to [John] Havlicek in 1968.”

5) Dirk Nowitzki (14 appearances)

Only one player, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, has made more All-Star appearances than Nowitzki without earning MVP. The German superstar was first named to the All-Star team in 2002 and that kicked off a streak of 11 straight nods. For such a terrific shooter and ball handler with a unique size advantage, his All-Star box scores over the years are surprisingly sparse. Nowitzki topped 12 points just twice in his 14 appearances, with 13 points in 2008 and 22 in 2010. That latter game was easily his best chance at earning MVP, especially with the game taking place near Dallas (in Arlington, Texas) but Nowitzki’s West squad was defeated and Dwyane Wade earned MVP for the East. The Three-Point Contest title did go to Nowitzki in 2006 and he followed that up by shooting 0-of-3 from long range in the next night’s All-Star Game.

4) John Havlicek (13 appearances)

It’s rare to see the leading scorer on the winning team not earn All-Star MVP but that’s what happened to Havlicek in 1968. On a stacked East roster that also included Wilt Chamberlain, Willis Reed, Oscar Robertson, and Celtics teammate Bill Russell, Havlicek led the way with 26 points in a 144-124 victory. But MVP was instead given to Philadelphia’s Hal Greer, who finished with 21 points but was perfect from the field, shooting 8-of-8. Havlicek got the last laugh that spring, when his Celtics erased a 3-1 series deficit to defeat the 76ers in the Eastern Conference Finals. Typically overshadowed on his own Celtics teams by Russell and later Dave Cowens, Havlicek was certainly accustomed to his big All-Star performances going unnoticed by MVP voters. The only major individual award he earned in his career was Finals MVP in 1974.

3) Moses Malone (11 appearances)

With a plodding style and an aptitude for rebounding and post scoring, Malone didn’t exactly have the type of game that translates to All-Star thrills. But he did put together one of the best All-Star performances of all time that didn’t earn MVP. It was in 1987, his first season after getting traded from the 76ers to the Bullets and he was reunited with his former Philly teammates Charles Barkley (making his All-Star debut) and Julius Erving (making his final All-Star appearance). Malone finished with team highs in points (27) and rebounds (18) for the East but his team lost in overtime, 154-149, with Tom Chambers (who was an injury replacement) receiving MVP honors. Malone had three other All-Star double-double performances, but in 1980 and 1982 his West team lost while in 1986 he was beaten out for MVP by Isiah Thomas.

2) Hakeem Olajuwon (12 appearances)

In ’93-’94, the same season he was league MVP and Finals MVP, Olajuwon almost added an All-Star MVP trophy to his collection. He led the West in scoring with 19 points and pulled 11 rebounds and five blocks but his team lost 127-118 and Scottie Pippen earned MVP honors. Olajuwon’s other great All-Star performance came in 1988, when he tallied 21 points and nine rebounds in the contest in Chicago. That was also a losing effort, as the East’s hometown hero Michael Jordan walked away with MVP honors. “The Dream” also hauled in an incredible 16 rebounds in the 1990 All-Star Game but added just eight points and the West lost that game as well.

1) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (18 appearances)

Michael Jordan, Willis Reed, and Shaquille O’Neal are the only players to win MVP, Finals MVP, and All-Star MVP in the same season. It was close but no cigar for Abdul-Jabbar (still known at the time as Lew Alcindor) in joining that list in ’70-’71. It was only his second season in the NBA but he was already undeniably the league’s best player. With the aging and hobbled Wilt Chamberlain as the only other center on the West roster, Abdul-Jabbar played 30 minutes in the 1971 game in San Diego, finishing with 19 points and 14 rebounds while hampering Reed on the defensive end. He also scored the game-winning basket, a short jumper in the final minute that lifted the Western Conference to a 108-107 win. But it was Lenny Wilkens, who finished with a game-high 21 points, that was named MVP, becoming the oldest player to win the award at age 34. Though he would eventually play in an NBA record 18 All-Star Games and earn a record six league MVP trophies, Abdul-Jabbar was never All-Star MVP. He easily holds the records for most All-Star points, rebounds, and blocks without an MVP trophy.