Damian Lillard is a front-runner for NBA MVP, so it is a little baffling that he will not even be starting in the All-Star Game for his own conference.
The league announced this year’s All-Star starters for the West on Thursday. The Portland Trail Blazers star was not one of them, losing out to Stephen Curry and Luka Doncic for the two backcourt spots. Lillard actually finished tied in voting with Doncic, but Doncic got a higher percentage of the fan vote, so he got the nod instead. The fan vote counts for 50 percent of the total vote as opposed to 25 percent each for player and media votes.
Twitter reacted with outrage to Lillard getting snubbed. Take a look:
What Lillard is doing this season has been nothing short of Herculean. He is putting up 29.8 points and 7.7 assists per game, which are close to career highs. Lillard has also led the Blazers to the No. 4 seed in the West despite currently being without his two top teammates in CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic. Meanwhile, Curry’s Golden State Warriors are No. 7, and Doncic’s Dallas Mavericks are No. 10.
Granted, Curry has been one of the most popular players in the NBA for the last decade. Doncic also has a huge base of support among European fans. But Lillard is becoming almost criminally underappreciated, and you can bet that he won’t forget this latest snub any time soon.
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