After hauling in additional fan votes than another Eastern Conference participant in every of the primary two returns of All-Star votes, Nets star Kevin Durant fell to second place whereas sitting with a sprained MCL within the third and closing vote returns.
Milwaukee’s All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo moved forward of Durant by 132,014 votes on Thursday. Lakers star LeBron James leads all gamers in All-Star voting, Nets star Kyrie Irving acquired essentially the most fan votes amongst Eastern Conference guards, and Celtics star Jayson Tatum is third within the Eastern Conference frontcourt behind Antetokounmpo and Durant.
Fans account for 50% of the All-Star vote, with present NBA gamers and an NBA media panel comprising the opposite half. Voting ends Saturday at 11:59 PM, and each the All-Star captains and starters will probably be introduced on TNT on Jan. 26.
Durant’s harm standing, nevertheless, leaves All-Star weekend in query.
The Nets’ star ahead suffered an MCL sprain in a Jan. 8 matchup towards the Miami Heat, when Nic Claxton blocked Heat star Jimmy Butler on a drive to the rim. Butler landed and barreled into Durant’s proper knee.
The Nets introduced an MCL sprain within the knee shortly after. He is scheduled to be reevaluated on Jan. 22 and anticipated to be out for a month.
His harm timeline may stretch longer if the Nets play it cautious and sit him till after the Feb. 19 All-Star break. Also taking part in a task within the determination making are Brooklyn’s struggles with Durant out. They have misplaced their first three video games within the wake of the star ahead’s harm, although Irving missed a kind of losses, and Ben Simmons missed one other.
In his fifteenth NBA season, Durant is averaging 29.7 factors per sport. He is on tempo to turn into essentially the most environment friendly 30-point-per-game scorer in NBA historical past and is taking pictures just below 56% from the sector, 38% from deep and 94% from the foul line.
Durant has additionally marched up the NBA’s all-time main scorer’s listing. While James is ready to go Kareem Abdul-Jabbar this season for many regular-season factors in league historical past, Durant has cracked the Top 15 and will crack the Top 10 if he returns to the rotation in time. James, in reality, named Durant as a participant who may sometime surpass his scoring mark.
”KD comes up, the very first thing that involves thoughts for certain,” James stated in a Jan. 10 sit down interview on ESPN’s SportsCenter. “His identify is just not ‘Easy Money’ and ‘Slim Reaper’ for no purpose. He does it so effortlessly. His skill to shoot the three ball, shoot the mid-range, get to the paint, and in addition shoot 85-90 [percent] from the free throw line.
“Those are key ingredients, but most important is about being available on our floor.”
It stays unclear whether or not or not Durant will probably be accessible for the All-Star Game. The star hasn’t performed in an All-Star Game since signing in Brooklyn as a result of numerous accidents.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com