For a while now the NBA All-Star game starters have been solely decided by fan voting, which has its pros and cons.
It was a pro because the fans are the ones watching the game, so they should be able to watch who they want to see play. But a major flaw is that fans often just vote for their favorite players, so sometimes there have been guys starting in the All-Star game when they are having a season that is not worthy of being an All-Star.
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Well, that is going to change moving forward, as now the fans will not be the sole selectors of the All-Star starters.
According to Marc Stein of ESPN, NBA players and media members will now represent a portion of the votes:
The NBA is introducing significant changes to its All-Star balloting procedures that will give players and members of the basketball media a say, alongside fans, in voting for All-Star starters.
Fans will continue to account for 50 percent of the vote total for All-Star starters, with players and a panel of media members accounting for 25 percent each.
There are no restrictions of who the players can vote for, meaning they can vote for themselves or teammates if they choose to.
All-Star voting is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. ET on Christmas Day and the game is going to be played on Feb. 19 in New Orleans.
The selection of the All-Star reserves will still be chosen by the two teams respective coaches, who usually are the coaches in each conference whose team yields the best record in the first half.
The lone Los Angeles Lakers All-Star last season was Kobe Bryant, who led the league in fan voting because he was in his last season, not necessarily because of his play on the court.
