Jalen Rose made an indefensible decision with his All-NBA ballot when he gave Kyrie Irving a vote, and even he is not trying to rationalize it.
The NBA released the full media voting results for all this season’s major awards on Wednesday. One thing that really stuck out was Rose giving Irving a vote for the All-NBA Third Team. He was the only voter out of 100 who felt Irving deserved a spot, which tells you all you need to know.
During ESPN’s pregame coverage of the Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday night, Rose owned up to his “mistake.”
“I get mesmerized by his talent, but it was a mistake to put him on the Third Team,” Rose said of Irving. “I’m glad that didn’t cost Trae Young his spot, who deserves it more. I’m gonna own that.”
Rose really had no choice but to own the baffling pick, as the voting results are made public. Irving averaged an impressive 27.4 points per game, but he missed more than half the season. Young averaged nearly a double-double with 28.4 points and 9.7 assists per game. The Atlanta Hawks star also played in 76 games.
Rose had some other questionable votes as well. He had Kevin Durant over Jayson Tatum on the First Team even though Durant played 20 fewer games. He also had Chris Paul over Steph Curry on the Second Team, which is something only 15 other voters agreed with. A Reddit user had a good breakdown of Rose’s questionable ballot.
This is not the first time we have seen a questionable take from Rose, but at least he was willing to address it on the air.
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