When it comes to making the NBA All-Star Team, the fans account for 50 percent of the vote. After the first round of fan voting Giannis Antetokounmpo (2.1 million votes) leads the Eastern Conference and the vote overall, while LeBron James (2.0 million) leads the Western Conference.
Only two players, Giannis and LeBron, netted at least two million votes in the first round of voting. Four more players received at last 1.5 million votes and three more crossed the one million vote mark.
Six of the million-plus vote getters are former league MVPs in Giannis, LeBron, Joel Embiid (1.84 million), Kevin Durant (1.80 million), Nikola Jokic (1.6 million) and Stephen Curry (1.39 million). The other three are potential future MVPs in Jayson Tatum (1.7 million), Luka Doncic (1.4 million) and Tyrese Haliburton (1.38 million).
With the NBA All-Star Game just just over five weeks away – How did the fans do with their first round of voting?
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Based on the fan vote, the starting lineup for the Eastern Conference feature Giannis, Embiid and Tatum in the frontcourt with Haliburton and Damian Lillard in the backcourt.
The fans seem to have a good pulse of the league this season in the Eastern Conference. There is no other combination in the frontcourt that makes any sense at all. The backcourt could have either Tyrese Maxey (480,062 votes) or Jalen Brunson (374,448 votes) in for Lillard, but Lillard is also averaging 25.4 points per game on the second-best team in the conference.
The Western Conference would counter with James, Durant and Jokic in the frontcourt with Curry and Doncic in the backcourt.
This is where the fans’ bias starts to show.
This season Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (966,927 votes) is the clear No. 3 MVP candidate while leading the second-best team in the conference and fourth best in the league in the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Gilgeous-Alexander is having another monster season averaging 31.4 points, 6.4 assists, 5.9 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game.
He is one of just four players averaging 30-plus points per game and one of just six players averaging at least 25-6-6 this season. It would be basketball malpractice for SGA to not start this season’s All-Star Game, which means the coaches and players will have to make up for the fan vote.
To get SGA in, as painful as it might be, that means Curry would move to the bench for this year’s game.
Aside from that the fans did a pretty good job in the first returns. Six of the 10 starters based on this vote would 100% be on my personal ballot with four, Lillard, Curry, LeBron and Durant, all deserving, but also replaceable with players having terrific seasons.
Kawhi Leonard (669,320 votes), Anthony Edwards (289,744 votes) and DeAaron Fox (210,911 votes) all could move into the starting lineup based on their individual seasons and team success.
Where it gets a little silly are the players that didn’t make the top 10 in the fan vote and the players that did. None of these are viable options to start the All-Star Game, but should have had some representation in the top 10.
How in the world is this player not in the top 10 frontcourt players?
Resume: 19.6 points, 12.8 rebounds, 7.5 assists per game on 58.9% shooting. First in rebounding, second in the league in double-doubles, second in triple-doubles and eighth in assists per game. The leader of the fifth best team in his conference.
That is what Domantas Sabonis is doing this season and despite that, he is nowhere to be found on the voting while rookies Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama are.
There is a guard in the top 10 that is averaging 15.3 points, 5.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game while Devin Booker, Desmond Bane and Fred VanVleet are all somewhere behind him.
It is natural for a member of the Los Angeles Lakers to get the “Laker bump” in fan voting, but putting Austin Reaves ahead of three players having monster seasons continues to show big city bias.
All-in-all the fan voting did a good job in the first round with the second round due on Jan. 11 2024. Will Maxey, Brunson, SGA, Fox, Sabonis, Bane, Booker or VanVleet see a bump?
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