Jaylen Brown is ranked 6th once again in the Eastern Conference in the NBA All-Star Fan Voting results, per the NBA’s second returns released Tuesday.
Brown received 1,514,259 votes through the first two rounds of the fan voting, only behind Giannis Antetokounmpo (1st at 2,092,284 votes), Jalen Brunson (2nd at 1,916,497 votes), Tyrese Maxey (3rd at 1,908,978 votes), Cade Cunningham (4th at 1,752,801 votes), and Donovan Mitchell (5th at 1,530,237 votes).
Jaylen Brown being on the outside looking in of a starting spot in the All-Star Game this year is a travesty and feels insane given the fact he is putting up MVP type numbers this season. Brown is averaging 29.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 4.9 assists this season while leading the Boston Celtics to the second seed in the Eastern Conference without Jayson Tatum.
He is coming off of a performance on January 3rd where he tied his career high at 50 points against a red hot Clippers team and locked down Kawhi Leonard who was on one of the best scoring stretches of his career. Brown proclaimed himself as the best two-way player in the game and even texted Joe Mazzulla before the game to tell him he was guarding Leonard, taking the challenge head on. Brown said after the game:
“Why wouldn’t I? I seek those challenges. I feel like it brings the most out of me. Obviously Kawhi is one of the greats so I wanted to start on him and I just seek those matchups, my mindset, I like when my back is against the wall. I like when people doubt. It fuels me. I’d be nice to get some respect you know. Keep it up.”
Not only has Brown been snubbed from the starting spot, but Derrick White still isn’t in the top-20 of voting in the Eastern Conference. Since December 2nd, White has averaged 21.5 points, 5.6 assists, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks. With the gluttony of All-Star caliber guards in the East, there is a chance White will miss out on the game again but I still think he deserves to at least be in the conversation as the number 2 option to Jaylen Brown this year.
NBA All-Star voting will conclude on Wednesday January 14th at 11:59 p.m. ET. From tomorrow to January 14th there will be “3-for-1 Days” where each fan vote counts three times. The NBA All-Star Game will take place on February 15th at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.
Fan voting only counts for 50% of the vote so maybe the media and players (both 25%) could push Brown into the starting position. Brown will make it in regardless of if he’s a starter or reserve but I feel like his play this year should constitute him for a spot in the top-5.
