Surprise!

The fans like Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Jimmy Butler.

All three are currently in the top eight of fan voting totals for the 2019 All Star Game.

Joel is running third among Eastern Conference front court players:

Jimmy and Ben are 4th in their respective positions. I also wanna know who’s out here voting for D Wade and Jeremy Lin and Gordon Hayward.

Anyway, the starters are selected by weighting three voting groups. Fans account for 50%, media 25%, and players 25%. That includes two guards and three front court players. Seven reserves are then chosen by NBA head coaches, I think. They did this last season and I can’t find anything that says it’s different this year. The team selection process is then done by the captains, who are the highest vote-getters in each conference.

So if the teams were being organized today, right this very moment, Giannis would be picking one of the squads and LeBron would be picking the other:

DeMarcus Cousins? Boogie hasn’t even played this year.

FYI the game is in Charlotte this year, so short trip for Embiid. No cross-country flight. Voting concludes on January 21st.