There was a pretty obvious omission from the NBA All-Star voting ballot return on Thursday. Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had dropped out of the top 10.
The other nine guards who had been in the first release of results remained on the list in a slightly differed order. Los Angeles Lakers guard Alex Caruso had jumped onto the list in place of Gilgeous-Alexander.
Thunder fans on Twitter expressed outrage that Caruso, a role player off the bench for the Lakers, and injury Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson were in the top 10 while the emerging Thunder star wasn’t.
It’s a taste of those enormous fan bases in SoCal and the Bay Area.
Lakers’ LeBron James and Nets’ Kevin Durant continue to be leaders in second round of NBA All-Star Game fan voting. Warriors‘ Stephen Curry and Wizards‘ Bradley Beal leaders at their position too. pic.twitter.com/rCe7VBQp1z
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 11, 2021
Last week, Gilgeous-Alexander had 99,286 votes and was in ninth, ahead of Thompson.
After the results this Thursday were released, ESPN reporter Royce Young tweeted about how strong the guard has played this season.
Not sure many realize what a good season Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is having, because I was even a little surprised at how good his numbers are — 22.6 ppg on 50.6 FG% and 38.2 3P% (on almost 5 attempts), 5.5 rpg, 6.5 apg. Legit breakout season.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) February 11, 2021
Oklahoma City fans were not pleased about Gilgeous-Alexander falling off the list.
This is absolute blasphemy towards Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Completely ludicrous https://t.co/l5yWy3X67P
— Bazley In His Bag (@BazleyIn) February 11, 2021
NO WAY SHAI GILGEOUS-ALEXANDER ISNT ON HERE 🤦🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/GwmcpZBuuU
— 𝔸𝕟𝕕𝕣𝕖𝕨 (@TheKanyeCrest) February 11, 2021
3rd year players to average atleast 22 PPG on 61 percent true shooting or more (in the last 25 years):
86-87 Charles Barkley (All-star)
89-90 Reggie Miller (All-star)
04-05 Amare Stoudemire (All-star)
20-21 Shai Gilgeous Alexander (Not even top 10 in voting among west guards😂) pic.twitter.com/60CzBRa2Fs— . (@karanjn16) February 11, 2021
WHERE THE HECK IS SHAI GILGEOUS ALEXANDER #NBAAllStar https://t.co/a89PeHTCXV
— 𝕯𝖔𝖘 🤼♀️ | ᴅɪʀᴇᴋ 🎬 (@Reich_Mendoza) February 11, 2021
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stats this season:
22.6 PPG
5.5 REB
6.5 AST
Shooting 50.6%This man deserves to be an All-Star pic.twitter.com/8iVu0Yyws3
— THUNDER(10-14) (@novotny_stefan) February 11, 2021
There were also tweets that specifically addressed the fact that Caruso and Thompson are on the list.
Alex Caruso seeing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander getting All-Star votes@shaiglalex #NBAAllStar
pic.twitter.com/8CMsH9SPN1— Wonnor 🛸 (@IcyWonnor) February 11, 2021
As of right now injured Klay Thompson and 5.5 ppg Alex Caruso would be an All Star over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Fan vote is getting out of hand😕 pic.twitter.com/0k6Yg4qUG0
— 𝙇𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙮🎡💫 (@MaledonWRLD) February 11, 2021
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander isn't averaging 22.6 points, 6.5 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game while shooting 50% from the floor for Klay Thompson and Alex Caruso to be on this list. https://t.co/AwUC9mEMYh
— Derek Parker (@DParkOK) February 11, 2021
Wow Shai Gilgeous-Alexander seriously fell out of the top 10 to Alex Caruso I hate it here pic.twitter.com/fZCU0SlnG8
— Alex (@alexking_nba) February 11, 2021
That’s the way fan voting works, though! It’s an annual tradition to get angry at role players having a larger fan base than the star on the hometown team you root for.
Fans account for 50% of the all-star vote. Current players’ votes count for 25% and the vote of media members who are counted receive the remaining 25%.
To vote for the Thunder guard, visit NBA’s website or app or post a tweet that contains the hashtags #ShaiGilgeousAlexander and #NBAAllStar.
Caruso and Thompson fans are simply doing this much, much more frequently than Thunder fans.
Voting goes through 10:59 p.m. Central Time on Tuesday.