The 8 most bizarre and hilarious takeaways from NBA All-Star voting

NBA All-Star starters and captains are out, with LeBron James headlining the East and Steph Curry leading the West. Results stayed predictable with Giannis Antetokounmpo, DeMar DeRozan, Kyrie Irving, and Joel Embiid filling out the East. Kevin Durant, James Harden, Anthony Davis, and DeMarcus Cousins are the four other selections from the West.

But this is the NBA, of course, so no voting-based rewards come without controversy and head-scratching. Here are the most surprising, confusing, and hilarious things we learned on Thursday night.

It can’t be a huge surprise that Embiid’s antics have rubbed certain players the wrong way, and that seemed to hold true for the voting, too. While Embiid was voted to be the Eastern Conference’s third front court starter, he finished fourth in the player vote behind Kristaps Porzingis. It wasn’t a huge disparity — Porzingis received 100 votes while Embiid got 94 — but it’s enough that we should note it, especially since fans and media both had Embiid comfortably in third place over Porzingis.

Under the old format that was in place just two years ago, Ginobili would have been the second Western Conference guard. The 40-year-old San Antonio legend received 1,808,860 fan votes, good for second-best in the Western Conference behind only Stephen Curry.

It’s for the best — Ginobili is averaging nine points on 45 percent shooting, and probably shouldn’t be starting over a player like James Harden, you know?

Players are allowed to vote for themselves, and many did. We don’t get to see who voted for who, but when a random 14th man who isn’t even getting rotation minutes this season has one player vote, let’s just say that we’re suspicious.

Here are a few single vote-getters that made me go, “Ah, that’s pretty interesting.”

It’s no surprise that Draymond Green, one of the league’s biggest trash-talkers, was voted just seventh place by players among Western Conference frontcourt players, while fans placed him second. It turns out talking a whole ton of s*** doesn’t make you many friends in the league! This surely won’t bother Draymond, though. He’s got Ringzz.

The Eastern Conference is short on star power, and that’s no secret. Its two top guards are obvious to everyone, as Kyrie Irving and DeMar DeRozan were ranked 1-2 unanimously by the players, fans and media.

Victor Oladipo, John Wall and Bradley Beal finished out the Top 5.

You might remember Kuzminskas from the Knicks’ roster last year, where he played in 68 (!!) games. But, uh, he got cut from New York’s roster in early November. Though he was technically still eligible, Kuzminskas only received four votes. Wanna see them? They’re right here.

Other low vote-getters: Antonius Cleveland (19), James Webb III (56), and Amile Jefferson (70). Yes, those are real names.

The Rockets-Clippers scandal brought Austin Rivers, the coach’s son, to the forefront again. He admitted in an ESPN article that he was aware of all the unflattering titles put on him in the league (spoiled, entitled, etc.). And Trevor Ariza’s attempt to confront him in the locker room on Monday showed Rivers’ unpopularity, soo it’s no surprise that not a single player voted for him to play in the All-Star game.

He obviously isn’t a good enough player to warrant votes, and he wasn’t alone in not receiving one. But it’s amusing nonetheless.

Last year, Butler made the All-NBA team as a forward, but Butler was ranked as the inflexible “G” designation for All-Star voting instead of “G-F,” despite his and his agent’s wishes.

But ... I’m gonna call out Butler’s agent on this one. It’s a nice thought, but Butler ended up with 329,345 fan votes, while five guards got more than a million. Butler also ranked fourth in the media voting and sixth among players. I’m certain allowing him to be voted in as a forward wouldn’t have changed anything.

Butler’s having a lovely season, but he doesn’t belong as a starter.