The NBA is implementing what might as well be known as “The Andrew Wiggins Rule.”
The league announced on Thursday that voting for the 2023 NBA All-Star Game starters begins on Dec. 20. But in an interesting development, fans will only be able to do so on the NBA app or on NBA.com. Moreover, fans will be limited to one ballot each day (though there will be six specifically-designated days where votes will count up to three times).
#NBAAllStar Voting presented by AT&T will tip off on Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 11 AM ET.
Fans will have the opportunity to vote for the 2023 NBA All-Star Game starters via the new NBA App and https://t.co/RZc8nGJPtX.
More ➡️ https://t.co/kvLmIbTO9P pic.twitter.com/bO97qb7yLy
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) December 15, 2022
That marks a big change from years past when fans could vote over Twitter by tweeting (or retweeting) the hashtag #NBAVote (and later #NBAAllStar). That voting method led to some very bizarre All-Star voting developments, such as no-name players almost earning starting nods.
The NBA tried to fix this problem by assigning a lower weighted percentage to the fan vote and giving both players and media members a say in the All-Star vote as well. But last year, another issue arose when the Golden State Warriors forward Wiggins actually did start in the All-Star Game, thanks in part to a music star who mobilized his fans to vote for Wiggins over Twitter.
This year’s stipulation that fans will only be able to vote for All-Star starters on the NBA app or on NBA.com serves a gatekeeping function as the league tries to prevent any further wonkiness. But even that may not be a foolproof method since the NBA also encountered an All-Star voting issue last year that had nothing to do with the voting platform.
