The 2017 NBA All-Star Game is right around the corner. As the 66th annual celebration approaches, the dominoes for the events start to fall. The rosters for the NBA All-Star Celebrity game and Rising Stars Challenge will be announced, then followed up with the participants for the All-Star Saturday night events. But the first major announcement comes with the release of the 2017 NBA All-Star game starters.
This season, the voting for the starters comes with a new wrinkle. In the past, the NBA fans have voted for the starters, and while there was some controversy, it usually ends up being right. That is until the Zaza Pachulia situation happened.
Last year the borderline reserve center was almost voted as a starter for the game. So to avoid any potential embarrassment of Zaza being selected as a starter, the NBA changed up the voting format. It will be a weighted vote with the fans getting 50 percent, players getting 25 percent and media for 25 percent. The voting format changed and now it appears that the results have backed up the new format.
The TNT crew made the announcement official on Thursday nights ‘Inside the NBA’ pregame show.
2017 NBA All-Star Game Starters
Eastern Conference All-Star Starters
G – Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers
G – DeMar DeRozan, Toronto Raptors
F – Jimmy Butler, Chicago Bulls
F – Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
F – LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
Western Conference Al-Star Starters
G – Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
G – James Harden, Houston Rockets
F – Kevin Durant, Golden State Warriors
F – Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs
F – Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans
There are some omissions that people notice immediately. First, Stephen Curry was picked as a starter over Russell Westbrook. Many, many people are really bothered by this given Westbrook’s spectacular season thus far.
On the Eastern Conference, the backcourt was much debated. Between Kyrie, DeRozan, Kyle Lowry or Isaiah Thomas. The votes were extremely close.
Here’s how the Inside the NBA crew reacted to the votes.
.@TurnerSportsEJ, Chuck, @TheJetonTNT and @SHAQ react to @NBAAllStar Starters reveal for Western Conference! pic.twitter.com/74LY8XpZgo
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) January 20, 2017
.@TurnerSportsEJ, Chuck, @TheJetonTNT and @SHAQ react to @NBAAllStar Starters reveal for Eastern Conference pic.twitter.com/xp4RbEvKIh
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) January 20, 2017
