NBA Daily: Analyzing First Returns Of All-Star Voting

On Thursday, the NBA released the first returns of voting for next month’s All-Star Game. Within the hour, people everywhere — both fans and media members alike — were sharing their thoughts. Of course, this is hardly a new phenomenon and, more often than not, the shakier results end up smoothing out by the final count. Still, there are some extremely interesting storylines and narratives to dig into, even if most of them won’t come to fruition come February. It’s early, no doubt — but that’s half the fun in revealing these numbers so far ahead of time.

If you need a refresher, through a combination of fan, player and media voting, five players from each conference will be chosen as starters. The remaining roster spots are then voted upon by the league’s head coaches. Ultimately, these fan votes will only account for 50 percent of a potential starter’s resume — so it’s pointless to get too wound up just yet. In any case, the early results give onlookers a healthy indication of where the pulse and lifeblood of the sport currently lies. So with that in mind, here’s what to watch out for as the voting steamrolls on toward the Jan. 21 deadline.

The Current Captains:

Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James

Last year, the NBA shook All-Star Weekend up by adopting a draft system — led during its inaugural attempt by Stephen Curry and LeBron James, two of the league’s most charismatic stars. The only problem? The league held that draft behind closed doors. This time around, however, everybody will get to see and react to the captain’s picks live. Beyond the potential for perfect television, it’ll offer a unique glance into the mind of two unarguable superstars as they mold their own versions of a juggernaut. When voting closes, the highest vote-getters from each conference will take the drafting reins and, as of now, those two captains would be James and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

While many will hope to see the Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid — the wise-cracking, social media superstar — making the choices on-air, it’d be difficult to find fault in putting these two in charge. James, who made waves this week by potentially declaring himself the greatest of all-time, crafted a salivating squad in Los Angeles in the draft debut that featured DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. As he looks to tie Bob Pettit and Kobe Bryant as the only players in NBA history with four All-Star MVPs, how could James possibly follow that success as a captain in year two?

Elsewhere, Antetokounmpo is clearly loved across the board — both domestically and internationally — and seeing the NBA’s next torchbearer in such a prominent position would only further his growing stature. Players like James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Irving could make a run at the respective crowns in remaining weeks, but it’d be a safe bet to start preparing for James and Antetokounmpo as the captains. In the end, those are win-win pair however you choose to slice it.

The Retirement Tour Stays Winning:

Dwyane Wade, Vince Carter

Heading into their twilight seasons — or what is assumed to be for Carter — it originally seemed unlikely that either of these former superstars would be notably involved in the proceedings. No matter what happens in the coming weeks, both Dwyane Wade and Vince Carter will appreciate the love from supporters nonetheless.

Although Wade has been a mid-season staple since he was drafted back in 2003, the last time Vince Carter finished in the top ten for his conference was 2010-11, when he was traded from Orlando to Pheonix in December. Carter has been chosen for the contest eight times in his illustrious career but not since 2007, so it’d be a fantastic send-off for the future first-ballot Hall of Famer. But at just 76,022 votes, Carter’s status here is a mere footnote as he’s already behind Kawhi Leonard by 700k and Giannis Antetokounmpo by nearly one million. Beyond that, the necessary player, media and or coach votes won’t be there for Carter either.

Wade, on the other hand, has a serious chance of turning his retirement tour into an instant classic. The Miami HEAT legend trails Kyrie Irving by about 500k votes but remains up on the Hornets’ Kemba Walker by a decent margin for backcourt votes in the conference. It’s hard to predict whether the other avenues of voting will reward Wade with the curtain call opportunity, but the 36-year-old is well-liked across the league. Wade is a 12-time All-Star selectee, but he hasn’t played in the exhibition classic in three years — so the magic of one final ride in Charlotte may too much for all parties involved to pass up.

The Warrior Fatigue Sets In:

Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Kevin Durant

Nobody truly expects the back-to-back champions to slump through the Western Conference much longer, but the quartet of dominant Warriors isn’t leading the pack in votes as usual. Obviously, some of this can be chalked up to Curry’s time on the injured list and Draymond Green and Klay Thompson’s unexpected struggles, but perhaps some Warrior-related fatigue has finally set in for voters. Green finished as the conference’s second-best vote-getter in the frontcourt for 2017-18, only trailing Durant but beating out Paul George, Davis and Cousins. After the first round of results, Green is holding onto the top ten at all by a slim margin.

Thompson’s 247,618 votes are well off his 1.23 million total from last season as well. Durant and Curry are nearly impeachable in these popularity contests and both will end up as starters again anyway — but it’s worth noting that they may not reach voting highs from before either. Unfortunately for Green and Thompson competition for the reserve spots remains fierce and the Warriors’ non-historic rate of winning won’t be there to save them a spot this time around. Green and Thompson have both made the All-Star game in consecutive seasons and in three of the last four years — but those streaks are most certainly in jeopardy as things stand now.

The International Votes Remain Key:

Jeremy Lin, Derrick Rose, Luka Dončić

Over the years, some fairly consistent patterns have revealed themselves in All-Star Game voting. Superstars will always garner votes, even if they’re hurt — James, Curry, Harden. Then there are the fringe stars that will always dot the periphery, sometimes with an outside chance at snagging a coveted starting spot — for example, Damian Lillard, Cousins, Walker. After that, the list generally consists of exciting, potential-laden players that have little chance of making the cut, but their national recognition is often a step in the right direction — a group that includes Jayson Tatum, Zach LaVine, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Devin Booker this season.

But every year, there are a few extra names that spark conversation and this campaign is no different. Entering the ring, last but not least, are your 2018-19 international favorites.

Jeremy Lin, the first American of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA, has always fared well in All-Star Game voting. Lin’s passionate fanbase, both in the states and abroad, have consistently kept the guard in the top ten for backcourt voting, no matter what conference he found himself in. After his popularity erupted in 2012, Lin has stayed in the top ten voting at his position — topping out at 883,809 in 2012-13, the third-highest mark for a guard in the West that season — in every season but last year. Traded to Atlanta during the offseason, Lin has played in a career-low 18.6 minutes per game over 33 games for the Hawks, but his return to the top ten backcourt vote-getters in the East also coincides with his comeback following 81 missed games with the Nets in 2017-18.

Next, there’s the complicated case of Derrick Rose, who appears as a man reborn in Minnesota. His off-the-court issues have raised some deserved red flags recently — but Rose may ride his fan- and media-given redemption arc to his first All-Star appearance since 2012. Naturally, Rose reaching the exhibition classic would be an undoubted success for his once all-but-dead basketball career. But it would also go down as another disappointing case study in rewarding an athlete with a spotty-at-best legal past. Of course, Rose’s current standing in the voting process absolutely has to do with his statistical resurgence (18.9 points, 4.8 assists), that’s without question, but the point guard also still remains massively popular in China.

In an offseason article by ESPN’s Nick DePaula from August, 70 percent of sales from Rose’s Adidas line of gear come from China. Despite the nearly career-ending lows, Rose’s jersey still frequently reached the top ten in sales there as well. That overseas love combined with the redemption narrative and his highest points per game average since 2011-12 has Rose in a surprising position for now. From here on out, Rose will have his hands full holding off Harden and Westbrook, but he’d still need a strong showing from the player and media voting to lock down a starting role. If he doesn’t, it’s tough to envision the coaches keeping him in the mix given the competitive, overfilled nature of the Western Conference player pool.

Finally, the league has been blessed with the breath of the fresh air that is Luka Dončić — everybody’s favorite rookie. Dončić, the super-refined 19-year-old, has taken the NBA by storm so far and the votes have quickly followed suit. After the first returns, Dončić is the Western Conference’s fourth-leading vote-getter, only trailing James, Curry and Rose. Dončić, Slovenian-born but loved in Spain (and all over the rest of Europe), was expected to do well in voting — but could anybody have reasonably seen this coming? There will be stiff competition for Dončić’s high-ranking spot in the coming weeks — notably Durant, Davis and George in particular — but it’s an incredible honor after just three months in the league.

Even with the ballooning number of fans behind him, the player and media votes might leave him out — if he misses out there, Dončić will need to hope that the coaches take him over plenty of more veteran-established options. In the event that Dončić misses out on the festivities as a rookie, he’s still averaging a stellar 19.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, five assists and 1.1 steals over 32 minutes per game.

He might not make the All-Star Game in 2018-19, but his potential here as a shoo-in for the next decade-plus seems almost certain.

Nevertheless, it remains incredibly early in All-Star Game voting and most of these narratives could be flipped on their head by the next time the returns are revealed. Still, it’s always interesting to see how things have panned out over the few months of the season. Whether that’s future Hall of Famers getting some well-deserved shine or impressive youngsters making their mid-season cases, the popularity contest always brings some exciting surprises along the way. But knowing the NBA, there’s still plenty of drama left to be had here before voting ends on Jan. 21 — so get to it!