“Due to a Commissioner Appointment”: NBA Analysts Believe Adam Silver Will Have to Save LeBron James’ All-Star Streak

The first round of NBA All-Star fan voting totals were released a couple of days ago, and there are some interesting results. Luka Doncic led with over 1.2 million votes, followed by Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, Tyrese Maxey, Jalen Brunson, Steph Curry, and Cade Cunningham. All of them had over a million votes. The surprise came in the number of votes LeBron James ended up with.

One can quibble with the position where some players ended on the list. But for the most part, the fans seem to have proven that they know ball this year, and that this vote isn’t simply the popularity contest it’s often been derided as.

That serious understanding of the game is reflected in how James ended ninth in the West despite being the most recognizable face in the sport. Deni Avdija isn’t a household name, but even he has more votes than LeBron.

Avdija, the Blazers forward, is having a breakout season and likely has big support from his native Israel. But that’s still a huge surprise.

Fan voting doesn’t close until January 14, but it’s uncharted territory for LeBron not to be at or at least very near the top of voting. On The Hoop Collective podcast, Brian Windhorst, Tim MacMahon, and Tim Bontemps expressed their shock and discussed LeBron’s All-Star chances.

Windhorst was surprised that Luka had so many votes in comparison to LeBron, since that means many people voted for one Laker and not the other. Bontemps felt LeBron’s record streak of All-Star starts is in big trouble.

“I’m looking at this, and I think for the first time in 20 years, at minimum, LeBron’s not gonna be a starter in the All-Star Game,” said Bontemps. “I thought LeBron was going to be leading the voting. I was surprised that he wasn’t.”

LeBron will have a chance in the next few weeks to earn more votes, especially with his teammate Austin Reaves on the shelf with a calf strain. If he can stay on the court and put together a dominant run, he’ll shoot up the list.

There’s no way that LeBron will not be an All-Star, whether it’s by fan voting or some other method. Windhorst made that point clear by mentioning that the game will be played in Los Angeles (albeit at the Clippers’ Intuit Dome and not the Lakers’ Crypto.com Arena).

Still, it doesn’t really matter where the game is; LeBron is too towering a figure not to be included. There is one ‘break glass in case of emergency option’ at commissioner Adam Silver’s disposal, and MacMahon said that if he has to, he’ll definitely use it.

“I think it’s going to be due to a commissioner appointment,” he said, “like Dirk [Nowitzki] and Dwyane Wade there last year.”

Silver will definitely use that if he has to for the biggest superstar of the last two decades. But there’s a better chance that with another two weeks to prove that he still has an edge over Father Time, LeBron will show enough on the court to get in the old-fashioned way.