After hauling in additional fan votes than some other Japanese Convention participant in every of the primary two returns of All-Star votes, Nets star Kevin Durant fell to second place whereas sitting with a sprained MCL within the third and ultimate vote returns.
Milwaukee’s All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo moved forward of Durant by 132,014 votes on Thursday. Lakers star LeBron James leads all gamers in All-Star voting, Nets star Kyrie Irving obtained probably the most fan votes amongst Japanese Convention guards, and Celtics star Jayson Tatum is third within the Japanese Convention frontcourt behind Antetokounmpo and Durant.
Followers account for 50% of the All-Star vote, with present NBA gamers and an NBA media panel comprising the opposite half. Voting ends Saturday at 11:59 PM, and each the All-Star captains and starters can be introduced on TNT on Jan. 26.
Durant’s harm standing, nevertheless, leaves All-Star weekend in query.
The Nets’ star ahead suffered an MCL sprain in a Jan. 8 matchup in opposition to the Miami Warmth, when Nic Claxton blocked Warmth star Jimmy Butler on a drive to the rim. Butler landed and barreled into Durant’s proper knee.
The Nets introduced an MCL sprain within the knee shortly after. He’s scheduled to be reevaluated on Jan. 22 and anticipated to be out for a month.
His harm timeline may stretch longer if the Nets play it cautious and sit him till after the Feb. 19 All-Star break. Additionally taking part in a task within the resolution making are Brooklyn’s struggles with Durant out. They’ve misplaced their first three video games within the wake of the star ahead’s harm, although Irving missed a kind of losses, and Ben Simmons missed one other.
In his fifteenth NBA season, Durant is averaging 29.7 factors per recreation. He’s on tempo to turn into probably the most environment friendly 30-point-per-game scorer in NBA historical past and is capturing slightly below 56% from the sphere, 38% from deep and 94% from the foul line.
Durant has additionally marched up the NBA’s all-time main scorer’s listing. Whereas James is about to go Kareem Abdul-Jabbar this season for many regular-season factors in league historical past, Durant has cracked the High 15 and will crack the High 10 if he returns to the rotation in time. James, actually, named Durant as a participant who may sometime surpass his scoring mark.
”KD comes up, the very first thing that involves thoughts for positive,” James stated in a Jan. 10 sit down interview on ESPN’s SportsCenter. “His identify will not be ‘Straightforward Cash’ and ‘Slim Reaper’ for no motive. He does it so effortlessly. His means to shoot the three ball, shoot the mid-range, get to the paint, and in addition shoot 85-90 [percent] from the free throw line.
“These are key elements, however most essential is about being obtainable on our flooring.”
It stays unclear whether or not or not Durant can be obtainable for the All-Star Recreation. The star hasn’t performed in an All-Star Recreation since signing in Brooklyn resulting from a lot of accidents.
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