Trending: Lowry, DeRozan well back on final night of All-Star voting
Posted January 18, 2016 3:08 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Toronto Raptors guards Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan may be the best one-two punch in the NBA’s Eastern Conference, but that might not be good enough to get them into the All-Star Game at the ACC on Feb. 14.
With the deadline of Monday night at 11:59 p.m. for All-Star voting, both Lowry and DeRozan are on the outside looking in.
As of Jan. 14, Miami Heat guard Dwayne Wade leads the category with 736,732 votes. Kyrie Irving has 399,757 votes and Lowry is third with 367,472 votes.
DeRozan is currently sixth among guards with 262,683 votes.
Fan voting determines the starting lineup for the All-Star game, and the NBA head coaches fill out the rosters with reserves. Last year, Lowry was voted in as a starter for the Eastern Conference All-Star team.
Toronto rapper Drake is doing his part, asking his fans to vote for DeRozan and Lowry through Instagram Sunday. The posts received over 150,000 likes, but unfortunately Instagram likes don’t count as All-Star votes.
Raptors forward Patrick Patterson, for one, isn’t a supporter of having fans vote for the starting lineup.
“Fans just vote for their favourite player, regardless of how many games they’ve played or regardless of their team’s position in the conference or the division,” Patterson told TSN. “So I just feel like the voting should be left in the hands of the players, NBA staff and coaches.”
Last year, Lowry got a late boost from Canadian Justin Bieber. This year, Biebs threw his support behind Western Conference guard Chris Paul – giving Paul an estimated 50,000 vote boost. That could be more than enough to put him past the oft-injured Irving in voting.
No word from Bieber on his Eastern guard favourite, but time is desperately running out.
Fans can vote until midnight tonight at NBA.com/vote or by posting the player’s first and last name along with the hashtag #NBAVOTE on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
They can also vote through Google Search, simply by searching for “NBA Vote All-Star.”
