Pascal Siakam Opens All-Star Voting Outside Starting Spot
There's little doubt that Pascal Siakam will be tabbed with a spot on the Eastern Conference All-Star team next month but a starting spot is looking pretty unlikely.
The first batch of fan voting for the conference had the Toronto Raptors forward ranked sixth in frontcourt voting, nearly two million votes shy of Joel Embiid who is currently slotted to take the last of three frontcourt positions.
Siakam received 324,632 votes, trailing Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Embiid, Jayson Tatum, and Jimmy Butler in the frontcourt, respectively. Considering the depth of high-end talent in the East, it's unlikely Siakam gets anywhere close to enough votes to earn one of the starting spots.
In the backcourt, Kyrie Irving and Donovan Mitchell lead all vote recipients. They're followed by James Harden, Jaylen Brown, Trae Young, and DeMar DeRozan, respectively.
LeBron James leads all players with nearly 3.2 million votes received. He'll likely be joined in the West frontcourt by Nikola Jokic and Anthony Davis or Zion Williamson who are narrowly fighting one another for the final of three starting spots.
The West's backcourt is led by Stephen Curry and Luka Doncic with Ja Morant and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in third and fourth, respectively.
No Raptors players aside from Siakam ranked in the top 10 at their respective position.
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