On this, surely everyone can agree: The last thing the world needs right now is an NBA All-Star voting controversy.
The league radically altered its process for selecting All-Star starters Monday, adding player and media votes to the existing fan voting process. In previous years, a fan vote via social media determined the five starters for each conference. This season, fans will only represent half of the vote, with a player vote and a panel of media members each accounting for 25 percent.
While the fan voting process has long been derided as a “popularity contest,” there was a bigger threat than diehards sending aging uber-famous legends like Kobe Bryant to the All-Star Game even if their play wasn’t worthy of the honor.