Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Western Conference and James Harden of the Houston Rockets and the Western Conference warm up before the NBA All-Star Game 2016 at the Air Canada Centre on February 14, 2016 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo : Getty Images/Elsa)
The NBA All-Star game is an annual event that pits the best basketball talent of the season from the Eastern and Western conference against one another. While there are many impressive players warranting of a spot in the starting lineups of these teams, some deserve it more than others. However, even though he averaged a triple-double this season, Oklahoma City Thunder's Russell Westbrook has controversially been left out of the Western starting five.
Westbrook is the current favorite to be named league MVP this season. After all, he has now been able to showcase his talents now that Kevin Durant has left to join the Golden State Warriors. While Durant has earned his spot in the West All-Star team's frontcourt, the new voting system may have taken away the chance for a reunion with Westbrook playing in the backcourt.
Instead of leaving it all up to the fans, the media and the players themselves now get a say. Fans now count for 50 percent of the vote, while players and the media account for 25% each. This change has raised eyebrows due to the fact that if the format were not changed the West lineup would have included Westbrook and fan favorite Zaza Pachulia.
Harden, Curry, and Westbrook actually finished with the same average ranking of 2.0 after all votes were tallied, ESPN reported. However, in the case of a tie, the player/s with the player who has received the most fan votes will be selected and placed in the starting lineup for their respective conference. In this particular scenario, Westbrook lost out on a spot in the starting lineup because Curry and Harden were the ones preferred by NBA fans in the guard position.
Adding to the controversy of this announcement is that Westbrook was actually the All-Star game MVP in both of the past two seasons, the NY Times reported. He has also arguably been carrying a thinning Thunder squad through this NBA season. Without him, it would be highly doubtful that they would have their current 25-19 record as of the time of writing this article, which is good enough to put them at the seventh spot in the West.
Watch some highlights from Westbrook's unbelievable 2016/2017 NBA season in the video below:
