Latvian president casts All-Star vote for Kristaps Porzingis on Twitter

The people of New York have warmed up to Kristaps Porzingis after a rocky start, thanks to his deep threes, put-back dunks and love of hip-hop, but the people of his home land of Latvia have always had his back.

The people of New York have warmed up to Kristaps Porzingis after a rocky start, thanks to his deep threes, put-back dunks and love of hip-hop, but the citizens of his home land of Latvia have always had his back. That continued on Thursday when Latvian president Raimonds Vējonis cast a Twitter vote for the Knicks rookie to be in the 2016 All-Star Game.

This year All-Star ballots can be cast through social media, with retweets counting as additional votes, so getting a boost from Vējonis and his 21,800 followers could help launch the center into the Eastern Conference team.

Kristaps Porzingis #NBAVote

— Valsts prezidenta kanceleja (@Rigas_pils) January 14, 2016

• Porzingis’s hometown erected billboards in his honor​

Vējonis’s account is not verified, but Twiplomacy has a history of the Twitter handles of Latvian heads of state, so we can be fairly confident it is the Eastern European leader.

The NBA is set to announce the latest voting numbers for the All-Star Game later on Thursday, so we will see shortly if the famed Vējonis bounce is enough to get Porzingis into the starting five.

– Brendan Maloy