Luka Doncic controversially received the nod as a starter for the All-Star game over Damian Lillard, and the Dallas Mavericks guard recognizes that he may have gotten away with one.
Doncic talked on Saturday about the results of the All-Star voting. He admitted he didn’t expect he would be voted a starter and acknowledged that Lillard may have deserved the honor.
Luka Doncic on All-Star voting results: “I didn’t expect that I was going to start this game. I know that maybe [Damian] Lillard deserved it more than me.”
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) February 20, 2021
You really can’t go wrong with either player, as they’re both great and very deserving of recognition.
Lillard is averaging: 29.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 7.7 assists, 1.1 steals per game and shooting 45.1/38.4/93.3 percent
Doncic is averaging: 29.1 points, 8.6 rebounds, 9.4 assists, 1.0 steals per game and shooting 47.5/33.5/79.5 percent
Their numbers are very comparable, although Lillard’s Blazers are 18-10, while Doncic’s Mavericks entered Saturday 13-15.
What’s interesting is that both the players and media favored Lillard over Doncic for the spot by a similar percentage. The fans however favored Doncic much more.
— DAME FOR MVP (@FawadAaliyan) February 19, 2021
Since the All-Star Game is primarily a fan spectacle, it makes sense to give the people who they want to see as the starter when there is a close case such as this one. Don’t worry too much about Lillard though, as he had a good reaction to losing the nod.
