The NBA regular season is officially at the half way point as we have reached the All-Star break, but there are quite a few big name players that won’t be able to play in the All-Star game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas due to injuries.

The first player to go down and get replaced for the East and West showdown on Valentine’s Day was the New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul who had to undergo knee surgery and is going to miss one to two months of playing time. As a result of the injury to Paul, the Denver Nuggets point guard Chauncey Billups got the nod to replace him on the West squad.

The next player to set to sit out the February 14^th NBA All-Star game is the Portland Trailblazers who has an ailing hamstring. Once the NBA All-Stars were announced for this game in Texas, Roy was chosen with no argument from anyone as a Western Conference selection at the guard position, but the center position and forward positions got some debate, especially when the Los Angeles Clippers center Chris Kaman was not selected.

Many people believe that the Los Angeles Lakers power forward Pau Gasol shouldn’t have been selected due to the fact that he missed considerable time this season. Kaman on the other hand has played in every game so far this season and is putting up career numbers even though the Clippers are still struggling.

Fortunately, once it was determined that Brandon Roy was a no go for the All-Star game, Chris Kaman finally got some much needed recognition and was chosen to replace Roy.

Along with Kaman and Billups, two more players have had to be replaced recently as Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson won’t be able to play this Sunday. The Dallas Mavericks future hall of fame point guard Jason Kidd has been picked to replace Kobe and David Lee of the New York Knicks will be the player to replace Allen Iverson who many people believe didn’t even deserved to be selected as a reserve let along a starter for the Eastern Conference.