The NBA holds an annual all-star vote every winter. This year in particular, some players across the league have accumulated thousands of votes that seem unrealistic. 

The National Basketball Association (NBA) has an annual weekend of fun, entertaining festivities performed by some of the best players in the league. Usually, all of the superstars who should be placed in a league of their own get voted in. LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and James Harden usually atop the list. Oddly enough, some players are in the top 20 this year that fans would not expect. 

All these players made it to the NBA, so they have the right to get voted in. However, the fact that Alex Caruso, Tacko Fall and Bam Adebayo are in the top 15 and 20 in their respective conference is blasphemous. If analysts go back and check the stats of these players compared to players who have superstar type talent, it is ridiculous these guys are even mentioned on this list. 

The main reason behind this situation is because these players have multiple memes of them. Caruso for example, on social media, is considered the “G.O.A.T.,” greatest of all time. The G.O.A.T. meme came along because Caruso is a skinny, white guy with thin, brown hair who looks like he is 40 years old. Fall is 7’6”, and Celtics fans gave him a standing ovation when he subbed into the game at TD Garden, home of the Boston Celtics.

Another player is Adebayo, who is, in fact, having a pretty good season, averaging 15.7 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 4.5 assists a game. Although most of his hype was born during the summer league, where he was dominating, but against rookies.

Caruso and Fall are decent role players, but their numbers this year do not even compare to these other superstars that deserve a spot on this year’s All-Star team roster. Tacko Fall averages a whopping 4.3 points and 2.5 rebounds a game. Not too far behind is Alex Caruso, who averages 5.5 points, 2 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game.

Look at guys like Devin Booker and Russell Westbrook whose numbers blow Caruso and Fall out of the water. Booker averages 26.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 6.4 assists. Westbrook has averaged a triple-double for the past few years now, yet he has fewer votes than Caruso. 

According to the NBA All-Star voting presented by Google, Caruso has a total of 894,827 votes, Fall has a total of 757,375 votes, and Abedayo has earned 529,244 votes to get into the 2020 All-Star game. 

The flip side to vote for NBA players is many people decide to vote for their favorite players on their favorite team. The ideology should be the best 24 players in the NBA get to play in the All-Star game on Feb. 16, 2020.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver needs to address this, or fans need to get their votes right by the end of the voting period.

The question to ask is: has the NBA All-Star voting process turned into a popularity contest?