Utah Jazz: Deron Williams named All-Star

SALT LAKE CITY — Make it or not, Deron Williams was going home to Dallas for NBA All-Star Weekend.

As it turns out, though, the Jazz point guard and Team USA gold medal-winning Olympian will do so as one of the headliners for the league's annual in-season showcase game.

Williams on Thursday was named as one of seven Western Conference reserves who will play in the Feb. 14 All-Star Game before an anticipated crowd of more than 85,000 at the Dallas Cowboys' new football stadium in nearby Arlington, Texas.

It's the first All-Star nod for Williams, who is averaging 19.0 points and 9.5 assists in 41 games this season — his fifth in the NBA out of the University of Illinois — for a 27-18 Jazz team that opens a four-game homestand tonight vs. Sacramento.

The 25-year-old will join fellow first-timers Kevin Durant of Oklahoma City and Zach Randolph of Memphis, buddy Chris Paul of New Orleans, Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki and Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers as subs on a West team whose fan-selected starters are the Lakers' Kobe Bryant, Phoenix teammates Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire, Denver's Carmelo Anthony and San Antonio's Tim Duncan.

"He's achieved personal success, and he's achieved team success, which to me are two increments you need to be called an All-Star," Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor said.

"I'm very excited for Deron to be part of the All-Star team this year," Jazz chief executive officer Greg Miller added in a telephone interview, "primarily because it's great to have the Utah Jazz represented, but also (because) I'm sure it means a lot to him to be playing in front of his hometown crowd."

A product of The Colony High School in the Dallas area, Williams — who won't play for the Jazz tonight against the Kings — was en route Thursday to the funeral for an uncle in his native West Virginia and did not make himself available for comment on his selection.

The choice via vote by Western Conference coaches, though, was heralded in NBA circles.

"Well deserved," Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley said after Williams' election, leaked earlier in the day to Yahoo! Sports, was announced by NBA partner TNT.

Even Denver point guard Chauncey Billups — nudged out of the West's sub spots by fellow guards Williams, Roy and Paul — was on board.