The NBA officially announced the 2021 All-Star Starters tonight, and a certain Chicago Bulls guard has officially missed the mark.
Eastern Conference All-Star Starters:
• Kyrie Irving
• Bradley Beal
• Giannis Antetokounmpo
• Kevin Durant (Captain)
• Joel Embiid
Western Conference All-Star Starters:
• Stephen Curry
• Luka Doncic
• LeBron James
• Kawhi Leonard
• Nikola Jokic
All things considered, the lack of Zach LaVine’s presence in the Eastern Conference’s starting five comes with no surprise. LaVine sat in 5th place in each of the NBA’s two fan vote releases earlier this month, while Bradley Beal and Kyrie Irving led the way in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots. While fan and media vote is also taken into account to name the starters, the fan votes do hold 50 percent of the weight, and thus it would have been nearly impossible to knock either Beal or Irving out of those spots.
LaVine’s fate now rests in the hands of the 30 NBA coaches, who will vote for each team’s reserves sometime soon. For what it’s worth, he did move into 4th-place in fan voting by the end of things, and he actually tied James Harden as third in player voting. Does that mean coaches will view him as highly? Not necessarily, but it is encouraging to see his perception around the league improve in one way or another.
Here are the full ranked voting breakdowns for both conferences. pic.twitter.com/vuS4w57TQY
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) February 19, 2021
Good news: Zach LaVine finished third in playing voting.
Game respects game. pic.twitter.com/zMORC2TQak
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) February 19, 2021
You already know how I feel:
Enough, Already: Zach LaVine Is an All-Starhttps://t.co/4iHgNdtaJn
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) February 18, 2021