Hey Now, *He’s* An All Star????????

*groans very loudly*

Yes, it’s that time of the year. The time where we all gripe and complain about All Star voting.

If you’ve been sleeping peacefully under a rock since yesterday evening, you may have missed that Andrew Wiggins was selected as an All Star starter yesterday.

Yes, *that* Andrew Wiggins. The one we just had to bully into getting vaccinated. For the first time in his career, he is an All Star starter. And for the billionth time in Wardell Curry’s career, he has an All Star teammate. (I’m sorry, my agenda is gonna agend, y’all.)

The reaction to Wiggins’ selection was…what you’d reasonably expect from NBA Twitter.

“Over CP3? Booker? KAT?” apparently so.

Not to take away from Wiggins’ accomplishments this season, but every year there seems to be that one head-scratching selection that makes fans, media, and players alike say one thing: “we need to change the All Star Voting process.”

It’s an exhibition game so it shouldn’t matter much right? Ehhhhh. Not really. Often times, player incentives are attached to All Star selections. Many players miss bonuses and other incentives simply because they did not get the requisite amount of votes needed to make the All Star team. If I had any legitimate gripe about the All Star selection process, it’s that the results should not factor into a player’s compensation.

Further, All Star selections are strongly engulfed in the discussion legacies and potential admittance into the Hall of Fame. This point may very well lead into a wider discussion about what we value about players and their respective legacies, but that’s not an issue we have to dive into right now. But it would be naive of us to pretend as if playing in this game as a starter or a reserve does not have any bearing on a player’s legacy at some point.

Should we do away with positions for All Star Selections? As a fan of a team in the West, the talent at guard is always, always very deep. If you’re trying to choose the best shooting or point guard in the West in any given season, GOOD LUCK. Maybe the best course of action is to choose the best players from each conference.

Now here’s the big ticket issue. Do the fans have too much power? Ultimately, the fans are given the deciding voice in All Star selections. But to be fair, isn’t this game for the fans anyway? We vote for who we want to see in a meaningless exhibition game with little to no ramifications on implications on the season as a whole or championship. If you expect us to tune into a rather meaningless game, the incentive for us is seeing the players we want to see. And apparently, folks wanna see Maple Jordon.

So what’s the solution? Giving the fans/consumers *less* power and allocating more to the media and players? Or readjusting our view on what the All Star Game is and ultimately who it is for?

There are many complaints, but few solutions.

The most important takeaway from this year’s All Star conundrum is that Steph willing Wiggins into an All Star starter is the only shot he’s ever made for charity. We have no choice but to stan.