One of the better guards in the East was omitted by a glorified popularity contest.
All-Star games are designed to reward the best players of the current season across all sports. This is done mostly by having fans submit their votes for those deserving of the accolades based on what they have watched. However, like most things that involve a popular vote, you find out how disconnected you are from the masses. The NBA unveiled the first round of voting totals in their fan voting returns, and a certain member of the Cleveland Cavaliers was omitted.
Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo are leading the NBA’s first 2024-25 All-Star fan voting returns: pic.twitter.com/eQeU60l673
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 2, 2025
While it is evident to those who have watched that Darius Garland has been an instrumental pillar in the Cavaliers’ 29-4 start to the season, there appears to be a blackout in other parts of the country. Donovan Mitchell is currently second in the guards voting behind LaMelo Ball, but the fans have deemed eight other guards more worthy of being an All-Star than Garland this season.
Based on the public’s perception of the season, Jordan Poole is more worthy than Garland. Let me ask, what about Jordan Poole’s season is more impressive than Garland’s? Is it that his empty stats have the Washington Wizards currently as the mighty 15th seed in the East at 6-25?
If stats are what you fancy, how about the fact that Poole scores a mere 1.2 points per game more than Garland despite being the focal point of the season? How about how Poole scores his 21.7 points on 43% shooting compared to Garland’s 49%? If basic shooting numbers don’t do it for you, would you like to know that Garland ranks as the fourth most efficient guard scorer in the league with a 59.1 efficient field goal percentage? What is Poole’s you might ask? It’s 54.9%, which on its own is respectable. However, this is about deciding who the best players in the conference are.
Despite this post seeming like me having a personal beef with Poole, the point is more to point out the flaws and confusion I have with this voting process. The fact that Poole, who is putting together a nice season for him despite the fact the Wizards are atrocious, doesn’t have any claim to deserving the votes he has over Darius Garland.
Garland has the narrative and the stats to make a case for being on this list. Garland is the second offensive option on the top team in not only the Eastern Conference — but the entire league. He has also bounced back from a season that would usually have most teams abandon the player. Garland went from a hyper-inefficient season, plagued by personal issues and off-the-court tragedies, having his name floated to be traded, to being better than the player we saw two years ago.
Garland is in the midst of a career year from nearly every shooting stat. Garland currently is shooting a career-best from three (42.7%), the free throw line (90.9%), and two-point percentage (54.9%). All of this while playing fewer minutes than the past few seasons within a balanced and healthy offensive system.
I understand that this has always been the case for All-Star voting systems. We all remember the year that Zaza Pachullia was going to be a starter for the West. It doesn’t really excuse the process and the vote. Because of all the ways the All-Star game is changing its structure, the committee should maybe spend some time balancing out the absurdity of this voting process. At this point, I’m surprised there is no fill-in-the-blank option so we can vote for Harambe to be an All-Star.
