Wednesday, January 30, 2002 - Denver Nuggets guard Nick Van Exel was not named to the NBA Western Conference reserves when the squad was announced Tuesday.

Van Exel entered Tuesday's game against Miami averaging 22.3 points and 8.0 assists. But the fans voted Houston's Steve Francis the starter at point guard, and Dallas' Steve Nash and Seattle's Gary Payton were selected by the coaches as reserves. Van Exel said Monday he already had bought a plane ticket to spend all-star weekend in his offseason home of Houston and didn't expect to make the team.