It was a bit of a surprise when the first round of fan voting revealed on Thursday that Milwaukee Bucks big Giannis Antetokounmpo is the leading All-Star vote-getter in the Eastern Conference.
Antetokounmpo is having a spectacular year, but fan voting is largely a popularity contest. Seeing someone like Antetokounmpo pull in more votes than the likes of LeBron James is pretty remarkable. The gap between Antetokounmpo and James is roughly 7,000 votes, though, so the tides could change in an instant, but these results were certainly unexpected.
Of course, the NBA changed their All-Star format this season, so leading a conference in votes like Antetokounmpo does in the East has its privileges. Under the NBA’s new All-Star Game format, each conference’s leading vote-getter will captain and draft their own All-Star squad using the entire pool of All-Star players. This means Eastern Conference players can play for the Western Conference, and vice versa.
Milwaukee media caught up with Antetokounmpo on Friday and, of course, asked who he would select first if the NBA All-Star draft took place today. He had a pretty smart, and strategic, answer.
“First of all, if my teammates are available, I’m going with my teammate. But if not, you know I gotta go with LeBron James. The best player in the world, so we can have a good relationship for the free agency. You never know, he might come play [in Milwaukee]
James is an obvious selection without the added free agent tampering opportunity, but you’ve got to respect Antetokounmpo’s thought process here. LeBron James can be a free agent this summer, with all signs pointing toward that outcome. Will James land in Milwaukee? Probably not, but the idea of Antetokounmpo playing with James for 82 games does sound pretty fantastic.
