Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball will not be starting the All Star game despite winning the fan vote by about 450,000 votes.

The NBA changed the all star starter voting process after it looked like Zaza Pachulia was destined to start an all star game. The league was fine with injured or washed up stars were getting voted in, but Zaza was a bridge too far. To rectify the situation, the league added player and media votes to the equation to stop any funny business. However, it looks like the media brought some funny business to the table this year.

The fan vote counts for 50% of a player’s rank and the media and player votes count for 25% each. While LaMelo was first in the fan voting, he was third in player voting and seventh (7th!!) in media voting. He finished behind Jalen Brunson and Donovan Mitchell (who ended up being the starters) in player voting. Mitchell, Brunson, Darius Garland, Cade Cunningham, Damian Lillard, and Trae Young got more than the three media votes that LaMelo got.

I know LaMelo is on a bad team, but all star status is an individual accomplishment. It appears the media puts a heavy weight on team success and name recognition.

Bradley Beal in 2019-20 is the only recent example of a player putting up as prolific a scoring season as Ball and not making an all star team. Prior to that, I think you’ll have to go back to the 70s and 80s to find more examples, and basketball voting made no sense back then.

Ball can still make the all star team as a reserve. Those are decided by coaching selections. The Eastern Conference teams will be coached by the head coach and an assistant from the conference’s leading team. Right now that looks like the Cavs and former Hornets coach for a couple days, Kenny Atkinson. Fingers crossed he makes it.