The ESPN story
I'm not really surprised by this. As All-Star coach, Nelson's priority (after not getting anybody, especially Dirk and Nash, hurt and not wearing anybody, especially Dirk and Nash, out) is going to be to showcase his guys. And while Dirk taking the starting spot would be good for some preliminary publicity, his actual game will benefit more from playing with his regular partner Nash with the two coming off to play much of the 2nd and 4th quarters (the same applies to Nash's game)