John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
NBA All-Star Game Voting Begins
NBA All-Star game voting has officially arrived and the Toronto Raptors are pushing the candidacy of their three veteran stars, Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, and OG Anunoby.
VanVleet certainly has the strongest case of the Raptors' trio. He's averaging 20.1 points, 6.7 assists, and 1.6 steals per game while shooting 43.4% from the floor and 39.7% from behind the arc. He's been the focal point of Toronto's offense this season and played at an All-Defense caliber at the other end of the court. He also ranks the fourth-best guard in the Eastern Conference according to LEBRON, an advanced statistic from BBALL-INDEX, and he ranks as the NBA's third-best player according to FiveThirtyEight's WAR metric. He's also played in all but one game for Toronto this season, though that will likely change Sunday as he's expected to miss time in the COVID-19 Health & Safety protocols.
The problem for Siakam and Anunoby is their lack of playing time this season. The two have only played 17 and 16 games, respectively, and a total of 586 and 588 minutes, respectively. Siakam was sidelined to start the season coming back from offseason shoulder surgery while Anunoby missed a month due to a hip pointer injury. Now they are both on the COVID list and could miss even more time this year.
Voting will run from December 25 through January 22 with the All-Star game scheduled for February 20 in Cleveland.
Fans will be allowed to submit one ballot each day on the NBA app and NBA.com and can vote for up to 10 different players per day on Twitter. The league has also made five 2-for-1 days where votes will count twice on Dec. 25, Jan. 7, Jan. 13, Jan 17., and Jan 22. Fan voting will count for 50% while media and player voting will each account for 25%.
Further Reading
Kyle Lowry says he didn't chase triple-double as ode to Fred VanVleet
COVID-19 continues to disrupt Raptors' developmental plans, costing Scottie Barnes valuable reps
Precious Achiuwa details his time in isolation & says he's far more than just a snacking specialist
