This year’s NBA All-Star Game could have a big surprise when the starting lineups are announced.
On Thursday, the league released the results for the second round of fan voting for the All-Star Game in February. Perhaps the most unexpected development was that Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins is now third in voting among frontcourt players in the West, trailing only LeBron James and Nikola Jokic.
Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant, Lakers‘ LeBron James and Bulls‘ DeMar DeRozan continue to lead in the NBA’s second All-Star Game fan voting returns: pic.twitter.com/Ml9CPPdvLi
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 13, 2022
Wiggins, who had 933,355 votes during the first round of voting, has nearly doubled that with 1,829,733 votes in Round 2. He has also surpassed Paul George, who previously occupied the No. 3 spot, putting Wiggins in line to potentially start in the All-Star Game (three frontcourt starters are selected).
It is a shocking rise for the former No. 1 overall pick Wiggins, who has never made an All-Star team in his NBA career. He has really spread his wings this season though, averaging an efficient 18.6 points per game for a Warriors team with the second-best record in the NBA at 30-10.
Granted, the fan vote is only 50 percent of the weighting when it comes to determining the All-Star starters (players and media account for 25 percent each). But Warriors fans definitely show out for their players, as we already saw in the first round of All-Star voting.
Photo: Feb 15, 2020; Chicago, Illinois, USA; NBA commissioner Adam Silver speaks at a press conference during NBA All Star Saturday Night at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports
