DALLAS – The NBA will announce its starters for next month’s All-Star game tonight at 7 on TNT. And the most compelling question is whether or not Dallas Mavericks rookie forward Luka Doncic will be voted in as one the Western Conference starters.
Doncic has been one of the darlings of the NBA this season after coming over from Slovenia and becoming the third pick in last June’s NBA Draft. The 6-7 prodigy was the second-leading vote-getter behind LeBron James in the lastest round of voting conducted by the fans for who will be the top three starters in the frontcourt for the Western Conference.
“Well, he’s having a great year and he’s done so many things well that he’s certainly earned the attention and consideration,” coach Rick Carlisle, who, when asked about if Doncic should be an All-Star starter. We’ll find out tonight.
“It certainly appears that he has a very good chance, but I don’t know the formulas for voting. I don’t know exactly how that works. You’ve got the fan vote, but you’ve also got media and the players vote too, so we’ll find out tonight.”
Voting by the fans account for 50 percent of the overall votes, and votes by the media and players account for the other 50 percent. Meanwhile, the coaches will vote for the seven reserves who will fill out the Western Conference and Eastern Conference All-Star rosters.
The All-Star game will be played Feb. 17 in Charlotte.
Doncic leads the Mavs in scoring with 19.9 points per game, and also averages 6.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists. Meanwhile, the last five rookies to even make the All-Star team are Shaquille O’Neal (1993), Grant Hill (1995), Tim Duncan (1998), Yao Ming (2003) and Blake Griffin (2011).
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