Lakers News: Weighted Voting Process Killed Anthony Davis’s Odds Of Starting All-Star Game
This week, Los Angeles Lakers power forward LeBron James was named to his record-tying 19th All-Star game, and led all Western Conference starters to be honored as the West's representative captain. The West's All-Star starting five was rounded out by guards Luka Doncic and Stephen Curry, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, and, surprisingly, New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson.
Williamson, currently out with a hamstring injury, has actually only played in three more games this season than oft-injured LA center Anthony Davis, though the Lakers' mediocre seeding probably impacted his candidacy for another starting spot.
Tim Bontemps of ESPN reports that, though Davis was the third leading fan vote recipient among Western Conference frontcourt players, he didn't make the final cut due to the league's weighted voting system. That setup allocates 50% of the All-Star voting to the fan votes, and splits the remaining 50% evenly between media and player votes.
Davis ranked just sixth in media votes and seventh among player votes, per Bontemps.
Coaches select the 14 reserve All-Star players. Will Davis be voted onto his ninth All-Star team by those coaches this year? He's missed an awful lot of time, but his early return from that right foot stress injury might goose his chances now. A strong finish record-wise for LA as January wraps up could help too. Thus far this season, AD is averaging 27.2 points on .590/.294/.827 shooting splits, 12.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.2 blocks and 1.3 steals a night.
