Will NBA Fans Lose the Right to Vote?
With the 2017 NBA All-Star weekend just a month and a half away, more news relating to the event begins to surface. Among the top of the list are voting results and this year Golden State Warrior's Zaza Pachulia has made his mark.
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Pachulia sits second behind a former MVP, Kevin Durant, in All-Star votes for the Western Conference front-court. With 439,675 current votes, Pachulia has earned more love from the fans than dominant players such as Anthony Davis ( 318,144 votes) and DeMarcus Cousins (202,317 votes). Why is this surprising? Pachulia is only averaging 5.3 points per game (ppg) and 5.7 rebounds per game (rpg). Being a center in the NBA with those statistics do not make you a standout player. For instance, Davis is totalling 28.6 ppg and 12 rpg and Cousins collects 28.5 ppg and 10 rpg; numbers that are All-Star material.
Fans can currently vote through a ballot each day on NBA.com, the NBA App, Twitter, Facebook and Google Search. Twitter users can participate by tweeting, retweeting or replying with an NBA player’s first and last name or Twitter handle, in addition to the hashtag #NBAVOTE. On your personal Facebook account, votes can be submitted by posting the player’s first and last name along with the hashtag #NBAVOTE, or comment on another’s Facebook post to support your favorite players.
Unlike any other year, the 66th NBA All-Star game has allowed NBA basketball players and related media to participate in the voting. Fans will account for 50% of the votes and players and media will count for 25% a piece. Athletes like LeBron James and Dwyane Wade have already reached out on Twitter, voting for their teammates and encouraging their followers to do the same.
Although this may seem like a positive new addition, is this the beginning of a path to lessen the fan's impact on NBA All-Star games? From having complete control, the value of fans' votes has been cut in half; maybe rightfully so. Fans in the past have had the tendency to successfully vote in injured players like Kobe Bryant, Yao Ming, Shaquille O'Neal and more due to favoritism. This year however, Pachulia's current standings in the All-Star race certainly has NBA viewers turning their heads due to his lack of impact and popularity.
Comment below what changes you think future NBA All-Star games will encounter.
* NBA All-Star voting closes Monday, Jan 16*
