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On Thursday night, the NBA released the starting lineups for the 2017 All-Star Game. As expected, no Wizards player made the starting lineup.
John Wall finished 7th among Eastern Conference guards in fan voting, but he ranked fourth in player voting (49 votes of 324 players) and fifth in media voting (15 votes). This helped Wall rank sixth, behind starters Kyrie Irving and DeMar DeRozan, as well as Isaiah Thomas, Dwyane Wade, and Kyle Lowry. With the NBA’s new weighting system, fan voting counted for 50 percent. Player and media votes counted 25 percent each.
In a pleasant surprise, Bradley Beal ranked in the Top 10 among Eastern Conference guards, where he placed 10th. Beal was 14th in fan voting, but ranked eighth in the player (16 player votes) and media (no votes since only seven Eastern guards received one or more vote).
If there’s a takeaway from this year’s All-Star starting lineup voting, it’s that the players and media served as a check against fans voting for candidates who most don’t believe are truly the among the league’s best.
In the Western Conference, Warriors center Zaza Pachulia was second in fan voting, but ended up sixth in the new system. In the Eastern Conference, 76ers center Joel Embiid and Bulls guard Dwyane Wade would have started under last year’s rules, but fell due to lower totals from players and media.
The NBA’s coaches get to vote for the reserves, so it’s likely that Wall will make his fourth consecutive All-Star appearance. Beal has a small chance to make it as well, but his chances are doubtful given that Thomas and Lowry have had very good seasons on teams who have done better than the Wizards so far this season.