Getty Golden State Warriors wing Andrew Wiggins handles the ball during a game against the Phoenix Suns.
With just a game and a half separating them from the Suns in the standings, the Golden State Warriors continue to be within reaching distance of the NBA‘s best record. However, there’s no doubting the fact that things have been rough in the Bay Area recently.
The Warriors are in the midst of a four-losses-in-five-games stretch. Over that span, they’re getting outscored by 6.8 points per possession while ranking dead last league-wide in offensive rating (96.4) and effective field goal percentage (45.8). Meanwhile, they’re No. 29 in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.42:1) as well.
As bad as they have been as a team, though, star wing Andrew Wiggins continues to perform at a high level.
For the year, the former No. 1 overall pick is putting up 18.6 points and 4.3 rebounds per game while hitting a career-best 48.6% of his shot attempts and 42.1% deep. And he has continued to post similar numbers amid Golden State’s recent slump.
Wiggins’ steady play hasn’t gone unnoticed, either, if the latest All-Star fan vote returns are any indication.
Wiggins Ascending in the All-Star Vote
Wiggins came in fourth among Western Conference frontcourt players in the first All-Star returns, pulling down 933,355 votes through January 6. However, the league updated the tallies on Thursday, which showed that he had leapfrogged LA Clippers star Paul George and to take possession of the No. 3 spot in the group.
As of the second update, Wiggins had amassed a whopping 1,829,733 votes. The LA Lakers’ LeBron James (4,386,392 votes) and Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets (3,016,380) own the first and second spots, respectively, while George had 1,773,447 votes. Warriors big man Draymond Green came in sixth in the frontcourt lot at 1,295,848.
Elsewhere, Stephen Curry led the West’s backcourt pool and continues to be the top vote-getter overall at 4,463,426. Despite just having returned to the court after a 941-day absence, Klay Thompson was fourth with 749,038 votes.
Given Wiggins’ proximity to George, it’s difficult to say whether he can actually snag a starting spot.
Then again, he may be able to ride a big-time boost from on high.
The latest Golden State Warriors news straight to your inbox! Heavy on Warriors newsletter here!
Wiggins Boosted by K-Pop Star?
Although his strong play is enough to warrant consideration for an All-Star appearance — and there’s a chance that the coaches would vote him in anyway — it may not be the only thing boosting Wiggins’ candidacy in the eyes of fans. Partial credit for his latest jump in the pecking order may be due to K-Pop star BamBam.
Mere days after the first All-Star voting results came in, the Got7 rapper, singer and songwriter — who boasts 9.4 million followers on Twitter — put out the following tweet supporting Wiggins’ All-Star push:
It’s the best time to begin 2022! He is one of the best two-way players!
Wiggs deserves to be an All-Star, vote Andrew Wiggins into the 2022 NBA All-Star Game..and I can’t wait to meet you all very soon
#AndrewWiggins #NBAAllStar
Per the NBA’s All-Star voting rules, tweets, retweets and/or replies that include a hashtag of a player’s first and last name (in the #FirstNameLastName format) or Twitter handle, along with the #NBAAllStar hashtag, count as votes.
As of this writing, BamBam’s post has been retweeted nearly 36,000 times, and there’s no telling what impact it may have had beyond that; not only on Twitter but by way of the other available voting avenues.
READ NEXT: