The second release of fan voting results for the 2023 NBA All-Star game have an improved outlook for the Boston Celtics per The Athletic’s Shams Charania. The team would have one starter if it were the fan vote alone that determined who made the cut for being an All-Star starter and voting ended today.
That of course is not the case. The player and media vote outweighs fan voting 3-to-1.
However, Celtics star forward Jayson Tatum has moved into one of the Eastern Conference’s three frontcourt starter spots with nearly 3.3 million votes. That places Tatum well behind Kevin Durant (4.5 million votes) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (4.4 million votes) and with a small edge over Joel Embiid. Tatum leads Embiid by about 40,000 votes.
The two backcourt spots are a tighter race. Boston star wing Jaylen Brown remains in fourth place with 1.5 million votes, trailing Kyrie Irving (3 million votes), Donovan Mitchell (2.7 million votes) and James Harden, though he is only about 60,000 votes behind Harden.
Celtics Lab 164: Gearing up for a Brooklyn Nets-Boston Celtics collision with Nick Fay https://t.co/HQ202KHhz1
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) January 10, 2023
It seems likely that even with the boost he will likely see from the media and perhaps player votes that Brown will not start unless he begins to pick up votes in a hurry. Tatum ought to, barring a drop-off in fan support in the remaining time left for the fan vote to be completed.
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