NBA All-Star Voting Surprises

NBA All-Star voting is slowly coming to an end. With 9 days to go there is still time for people to go and submit their votes. There are a few surprises in the current polls. The first and biggest surprise is that Zaza Pachulia is second in votes for the Western frontcourt. That's right Pachulia is second to only Kevin Durant in All-Star votes for the frontcourt ahead of players like Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins, and Blake Griffin. It goes to show how powerful fans votes are. Pachulia has a lot of support from people in his home country and that is one of the main reasons for him being a top vote-getter.

Another surprise vote-getter is Jeremy Lin. Lin has only played 12 games so far this season and his team is dead last in the NBA standings. And in the few games Lin played his numbers do not scream All-Star. In fact, the best player on the Nets is Brook Lopez and he does not crack the top 10. This is just the matter of a popularity contest. Lin is 8th in backcourt votes just because of his name and the fact that he plays in the big apple again.

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The final surprise is Joel Embiid. Embiid has played very well for a rookie on a minutes restriction, but his team has not performed well. With the 76ers owning the second-worst record in the NBA it is hard to justify Embiid making the All-Star roster. One of the things really helping Embiid make his case for the All-Star team is his tweets. Embiid is one of the funniest people on social media and he has been that way since day one. He tweeted the day he was drafted that his celebrity crush told him to come back to her when he is an All-Star. Two years later and Embiid sent out a tweet to make his dream of dating her come true by voting him into the All-Star game. Personally, I am curious what will happen if he makes the team and clearly I am not alone. Embiid is fourth in frontcourt voting for the East. He is only trailing Kevin Love by about 30,000 votes. So there is a chance Embiid could pick up the last front court spot. But that will also depend on the new All-Star voting format this year.

Luckily this year the NBA has changed the format for All-Star voting. For the first time ever, NBA players and select media members will vote for All-Stars. When calculated the fans own 50% of the votes while players and media members will own the other 50%. Hopefully, this will help with more deserving players making the game.