Victor Oladipo is playing at an All-Star level and deserves to play in his first NBA All-Star Game. But he will have to wait five days to learn his fate.
On Thursday night, the NBA announced the results of the All-Star vote – from fans (50 percent), players (25), and media (25). Boston’s Kyrie Irving and Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan were voted starters in the backcourt in the Eastern Conference, along with LeBron James (Cleveland), Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee), Joel Embiid (Philadelphia) in the frontcourt.
Oladipo received the third-most votes by a guard in the east by the players and media alike, but the fans voted rookie Ben Simmons ahead of him.
Therefore Oladipo will need votes from Eastern Conference coaches for the Pacers guard to be named an All-Star in his fifth season. The reserves will be announce on Tuesday, Jan. 23 at 7:00 pm. Then, the plan is for the All-Star rosters to be unveiled two days later.
It’s almost certain that Oladipo will indeed take part in next month’s festivities in Los Angeles Feb. 16-18. One by one, as Eastern Conference coaches have visited Bankers Life Fieldhouse throughout the season and they are in agreement — Oladipo, who is averaging 24.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.0 assists – and shooting better than 48 percent from the field, is an All-Star.
Like Boston’s Brad Stevens, Miami’s Erik Spoelstra, and Milwaukee’s Jason Kidd.
“It’s out of my control. I just want to win, boss,” Oladipo told VigilantSports.com. “Whatever it takes. I just want to win. Everything else will take care of itself.”
The Pacers are 24-20 this season and 0-5 when he has been sidelined.
In the Western Conference, the following five were voted starters: Golden State’s Curry, Houston’s James Harden, Golden State’s Kevin Durant, plus DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis of New Orleans.
12 players will be named All-Stars from each conference — and I’d like to see that number raised with NBA rosters having as many as 15 players and at least 13 active — but they will not represent their conference in an East vs West game for the first time. Instead, the top vote-getters in each conference, James in the East and Stephen Curry in the West, will alternate selections … yes, playground style.
Unfortunately, at least to this point, the NBA will not be televising the draft and we may not know the draft order. Let’s hope that changes for the better.
From the fans, Irving received 2,170,833 votes. DeRozan was just shy of one million (998,999), Simmons got 669,397, and Oladipo, in fourth, received 634,495 fan votes. James was the top vote-getter among the fans with 2,638,294.
The 67th NBA All-Star Game, Team LeBron vs Team Curry, will be played at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 18 at 8:00 pm ET.
[Photo: Frank McGrath/PS&]