NBA All-Star Voting Second Returns - Did Knicks Make Any Headway?
Hey now, you're an All-Star ... top 10 candidate.
The second returns on fan voting for the upcoming 2023 NBA All-Star Game are relatively low on New York Knicks representation. While there's a new name added to the list, Julius Randle resides in 10th place on the Eastern Conference's frontcourt candidates list, hardly a reward for the impact he's had on metropolitan hardwood affairs. Derrick Rose (298,100), perhaps puzzlingly, continues to rank ninth amongst Eastern guards despite having not partaken in a single game so far this January.
Randle (212,799 votes) is the lone new name amongst centers and forward in the East, usurping Cleveland's Jarrett Allen in the 10th place spot. Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo continue to lead while Jayson Tatum passed Joel Embiid for fourth. Jimmy Butler once again rounds out the top five.
Knicks fans likely believe that a 10th-place posting is the least supporters from abroad can do to recognize the season Randle has been having. He has posted double-doubles in all but one of the last 15 games, averaging 27.5 points and 13.1 rebounds in that span. New York (23-19) has gone 9-6 in that span, thrusting themselves back into the Eastern Conference's top six playoff-spot discussion.
Randle is seeking his second NBA All-Star bid, having previously repped the Knicks at the 2021 exhibition in Atlanta.
Madison Square Garden visitors will likely be equally, if not more, peeved about the lack of Jalen Brunson on the list. The first half of Brunson's debut season in Manhattan has allowed him to set career bests in nearly every major statistical category en route pushing the team back toward the safer spots on the NBA playoff bracket. A late injury to close out December, costing him three games after injuring his hip on Christmas Day against Philadelphia.
LeBron James (4,825,229) is the leading candidate with Kevin Durant (4,509,238) as the runner-up. Fan voting accounts for 50 percent of the All-Star roster formula with a poll of NBA players and a media panel equally making up the rest.
Knicks fans can do their part on Friday before their team hits the road to face the Washington Wizards (7 p.m. ET, MSG): Friday marks the next "3-for-1" day where ballots cast on the NBA's official site will count threefold. Voting runs through the end of the night on Jan. 21.
The 2023 NBA All-Star Game will be staged on Feb. 19 at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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