The NBA opened up All-Star voting to the general public Thursday at noon est. Fans will have the ability to cast their ballots through a variety of methods until February 16.
Fans will be given three options this season on how to vote, with two returning methods and a new selection being thrown in to mix.
The NBA pulled the plug on the usage of Google and the Google Assistant to cast votes in this years voting process. Fans used to be able to punch in “NBA Vote” to their Google browser and be given a page of all 450 NBA players to chose from, but this method has been fizzled out for other social networks, as you will see.
Here’s where you can vote:
Voting Through NBA.com
Voting through NBA.com has been a staple of the selection process since he league introduced online balloting back in 2003. Users will be able to make their voice heard on https://vote.nba.com/ where individuals will be prompted to select two guards, and three frontcourt members for each conference.
Voting Through the NBA App
Those with the NBA App will have the same capability as web users to cast one ballot a day of two guards and three frontcourt members for each conference.
Voting Through Twitter
In the removal of voting through Google, the NBA has introduced a new method of voting this year: Twitter. The social media platform has evolved in the last few years, and that is now on full display as the app will be used to tally votes amongst users. Those wishing to cast their ballots through the app will be able to with the simple hashtag of their favorite player(s) first and last name (ex: #ShaiGilgeousAlexander,) or mentioning their Twitter handle (ex: @shaigalex), followed by #NBAAllStar. Those on Twitter will have a daily tally of ten entries to use on who they so choose.
How You Can Represent the Thunder
You can represent the Thunder through all methods of voting throughout the next few weeks of voting, but why not help spread the word on some of Oklahoma City’s talents. The Thunder’s social media page will consistently post attention spreaders on some of the team’s top-talent as votes start pouring in, so a simple retweet could help get some of OKC’s brightest to game (if, it happens.)
Thunder players to be on the lookout for in the voting process:
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander– The 22-year-old has went from a promising rising-star highly coveted by those following the team to a man who is being talked about as a potential superstar among national basketball media outlets.
SGA’s averages of 21.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 6.5 assists make him just one of four guards in the Western Conference averaging a stat line of 20/5/5, sharing this accolade with the likes of Luka Doncic, Stephen Curry, and Demar Derozan. With Portland’s stars Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum just on the outside of the club.
Coming out of the Western Conference may prove to be a difficult task, as their are reasonable cases for well over ten guards in the conference, but he does hold up with some of the NBA’s best guards, and has proven he is worth a look for an ASG nod.
Al Horford- Al Horford has had his moments throughout the season, averaging 12.1 points, 2.4 assists, and 7.5 rebounds thus far, but will it be enough? The Thunder’s social media seems to think so, so why not follow suit in bringing some love to the 34-year-old big.
The Rest Of The Gang- Voters interests will likely shift towards Shai when looking at the Thunder team as a whole (deserving so) but that doesn’t mean you can’t pay your respects to other members of the team, who very well are out of contention. Luguentz Dort following is near a cult status on Twitter, so expect to see some ballots piling in favor of the 21-year-old lockdown defender. Outside of that you may see votes trickle in to young guns such as Darius Bazley and Hamidou Diallo, because hey– why not? In previous seasons, I always made sure to pay homage to Thunder greats Kyle Singler and Deonte Burton whenever I took my votes to Google. If you have that grouping of players that you have fallen in love with, vote for them! It’s understandable to base your votes solely on performance and spread them out to other franchises, but if you are all about supporting your team, by all means go for it.