Based on how NBA All-Star voting has looked thus far, the Los Angeles Lakers could be well represented. LeBron James will be an obvious selection due to the excellent season he’s put together. Anthony Davis is in the middle of a down year but he’ll still get elected to play in the game.
It’s no surprise that those two men will be All-Stars but an unlikely Laker might sneak his way in. With 214,997 votes currently, Alex Caruso is 10th among Western Conference guards.
Lakers’ LeBron James and Nets’ Kevin Durant continue to be leaders in second round of NBA All-Star Game fan voting. Warriors‘ Stephen Curry and Wizards‘ Bradley Beal leaders at their position too.
Caruso has emerged as one of the best defenders in the NBA but it’s probably a big stretch to say he’s an All-Star. He’s only averaging 5.5 points a game, which is 21.2 points less than what CJ McCollum is averaging, who only has 3,163 more votes. Obviously, Lakers fans took over the polls in an effort to get Caruso into the game. The 26-year-old guard has become a fan favorite and he’s actually a very important player for Los Angeles.
While Lakers fans are having fun, it’s at the expense of other fan bases across the league. Many are not happy about how many votes Caruso has gotten.
We really let Alex Caruso jump SGA in the All-Star voting
@hmfaigen What a joke. Yes, lakers nation, make a laughing stock out of your player to the rest of the league à la John Scott in the NHL all star game by voting him in. 🤦♂️
Guards playing 30+ mins a game and avg 20+ ppg seeing Alex Caruso and Klay Thompson ahead of them on the NBA All Star voting returns
“Klay Thompson and Alex Caruso are All Stars”
Lakers fans are having their fun now but it’s highly unlikely Caruso plays in the All-Star game. Coaches are the ones who pick the All-Star reserves and even Frank Vogel would probably have a hard time justifying a Caruso election.
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Caruso No Longer Lakers’ Secret Weapon
While Caruso probably isn’t worthy of a place on the All-Star team, he’s developed into a really good player. He was valuable for the Lakers during last year’s playoff run and continues to be one of their key pieces on defense.
He used to be considered the team’s secret weapon, but not anymore. Vogel believes that a different Laker has taken up that mantle.
“Last year Alex was my secret weapon. This year Talen [Horton-Tucker] is my secret weapon,” Vogel said recently.
Nobody expected much from Horton-Tucker this season but he’s forced his way into the Lakers’ rotation with his strong play. He has legitimate star potential and his ceiling is probably even higher than Caruso’s. At this point, Horton-Tucker won’t be a secret much longer.
LeBron Doesn’t Want to Have All-Star Game
As fun as it would be to see LeBron, Davis and Caruso potentially play in the All-Star Game, it doesn’t sound like the game is going to fun for anyone. LeBron recently came out against the notion of playing the game.
“Short offseason for myself and teammates of just 71 days, and then coming into this season, we were told we were not having an All-Star Game,” LeBron said recently.
“So we were looking forward to having a nice little break of five days from the fifth through the 10th, which is an opportunity for me to kind of recalibrate for the second half of the season. Then they throw an All-Star Game on us like this, it just breaks that all the way up. It’s pretty much a slap in the face.”
“I have zero energy and zero excitement about an All-Star Game this year,” continued James. “We’re also still dealing with a pandemic. We’re still dealing with everything that’s been going on, and we’re going to bring the whole league into one city that’s currently open… obviously, you guys can see I’m not very happy about it, but it’s out of my hands.”
LeBron is a good soldier so he’ll probably play in the game if he’s healthy. However, other players have come out against the idea of having an All-Star game. At this point, it doesn’t look like the players will have much of a choice.
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NBA Fans Upset Over Unlikely Laker Earning Over 200,000 All-Star Votes