NBA All-Star Game Voting Begins With Scottie Barnes at the Forefront for Raptors
The Scottie Barnes All-Star Game campaign has officially kicked off.
Voting for the All-Star Game starters began Tuesday morning with fans now eligible to begin submitting votes over the next month. Voting will be for three frontcourt players and two backcourt players in each conference with fan votes accounting for half the value of the total votes alongside media members and players who will account for the other half.
Barnes has certainly made a case to be an All-Star Game starter, the first for the Toronto Raptors since 2020. The third-year forward is averaging 20.3 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game while shooting 48.8% from the floor and 38.8% from three-point range. He is one of just three players averaging 20 points, nine rebounds, and 5.5 assists alongside Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic.
ESPN analyst Kevin Pelton recently listed Barnes as one of his Eastern Conference starters thanks to advanced analytics that have Barnes as one of the league’s most valuable players. For instance, Barnes has a +4.6 estimated plus-minus, the third-best among Eastern Conference forwards, per Dunks and Threes.
That said, Toronto’s 11-15 record this season is going to make it hard for Barnes to actually earn a starting spot without a ton of support from Raptors fans across the country. He’ll likely be competing against Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Jayson Tatum who should be the heavy favorites to earn starting spots.
Barnes does, however, have a reasonable shot at making a team as a reserve as voted on by NBA head coaches. There he’ll be competing for one of seven bench spots, likely against the aforementioned trio alongside Trae Young, Donovan Mitchell, Damien Lillard, Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Maxey, Tyrese Haliburton, Julius Randle, Jaylen Brown, Bam Adebayo, Pascal Siakam, Jimmy Butler, Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, and Mikal Bridges. Two of those players will earn starting spots in the backcourt.
All-Star reserves will be announced on Feb. 1 on TNT.
