The NBA All-Star game is a great event for fans every single year. It is a time that everyone can come in and see the best players in the world play, and witness a lot of superstars on the same court. There are many players around the league who have the potential to be All-Star starters, and could possibly be selected.
With fans being able to vote for the All-Star game for some time now, the NBA has recently tallied up the fan voting and released the results. There were some very recognizable names there, but also some surprises in the voting. Steve Aschburner’s article on NBA.com also had a few reactions to the fan voting numbers. Here are the results, and some notable quotes from Aschburner’s article.
Interesting stat: The NBA All-Star fan voting so far is up 70 percent compared to last year, per source. https://t.co/Wv2Z1WUnuY
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 4, 2021
Durant ranked first overall with 2,302,705 votes to James’ 2,288,676. That put the two Frontcourt candidates atop the East and West totals, respectively (please, no nit-picking about LeBron’s playmaking, ballhandling role with the Lakers).
Here’s why the above matters, in this particular world: If Durant somehow were to maintain his No. 1 status overall, he would unseat James, who has been the overall vote leader for five consecutive seasons and seven years overall dating back to 2007. Durant has been an All-Star 10 times, but he never has garnered the most votes.
Things will change, certainly, and players will move up or down in the Top 10 finishers as ballots are counted. But – if there is indeed an All-Star Game next month and the recent format continues – we may see Team LeBron picking second to Team KD or Kevin or whatever.
LeBron James and Kevin Durant are two of the best players in the world: most people in the NBA would agree so. They are both former MVP players, will multiple championships under their belt. Durant and James have faced off in the Finals many times: they have also both beaten each other in the Finals. They are the two greatest players of our basketball generation: their longevity has garnered them lots of praise from fans and media alike. A particularly interesting wrinkle to them having the most votes is that Durant’s amazing return from injury combined with the media attention on the Brooklyn Nets has garnered him more votes than James.
If Kevin Durant were to unseat LeBron James as the top player in All-Star voting it wouldn’t mean much for either player, as both of them would still be All-Star starters regardless. During the last few years, there have been many people who have crowned other successors to King James’ throne as the best in the world: Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic for example.
But people have forgotten about Kevin Durant after his injury, and now he has made his triumphant return. Durant leading the All-Star game in votes serves as a reminder that he is transcendent he truly is: some put him right up there with LeBron James. This could be our opportunity to finally see Team Durant vs. Team LeBron, after a few years of seeing Giannis Antetokounmpo as the other All-Star captain next to LeBron James.
Based on the fan voting, these are the most likely stars to be starters.
Eastern Conference: Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, Bradley Beal, Kyrie Irving
Western Conference: LeBron James, Nikola Jokic, Kawhi Leonard, Stephen Curry, Luka Doncic
That is pretty much on par with many people’s predictions. All of these players are having a great season, and fan voting does carry a lot of weight when it comes to starting in the All-Star game. Hopefully, the NBA can figure out how to keep everybody safe so the game can proceed without any new COVID-19 cases. If everything goes smoothly, we will get to see two of the best players in the world pick their teams for an amazing All-Star game.
