Golden State Warriors wing Andrew Wiggins has been named an All-Star starter; is the because he is on the second-best team in the league, or something more?
Every season in the four major sports, an All-Star game is held, some leagues have more controversy surrounding the annual event than others. The NBA All-Star game always feels like there is a little more drama than the other three major sports.
This year, Golden State Warriors wing Andrew Wiggins somehow got voted to not only participate in the game, but he will also start in the event.
Some people point to the fact he is having a career year on the second-best team in the association and he has transformed into one of the game’s best two-way players. Those are valid reasons for the honor.
Those who disagree with the selection will point to the fact Wiggins ranked 24th in scoring among Western Conference players, he scores the fewest points per game among the 10 All-Star starters, and he is the only All-Star starter averaging fewer than 20-points per game.
One aspect that Wiggins owes a big thank you to as a major contributing factor to his All-Star selection, is the Warriors’ new Global Ambassador K-Pop star BamBam. If the role sounds familiar, that’s because it is the same role, rapper Drake has with the Toronto Raptors.
BamBam was not shy about his support for the Warriors All-Star hopefuls, sharing several tweets on Twitter encouraging his army of fans to vote for both Wiggins, and Steph Curry (although Steph did not even require the extra help.)
It’s the best time to begin 2022! He is one of the best two-way players!
— BamBam (@BamBam1A) January 8, 2022
Wiggs deserves to be an All-Star, vote Andrew Wiggins into the 2022 NBA All-Star Game..and I can’t wait to meet you all very soon#AndrewWiggins #NBAAllStar pic.twitter.com/bpOXKAJ920
According to an article by Alex Shultz at SFGate, two of BamBam’s tweets were the two most interacted with tweets containing the NBA All-Star voting criteria for it the tweet to be counted as a vote.
This is not the first time K-Pop has influenced voting or an event in the US, virtually anytime K-Pop artists or groups are nominated for a fan-voted award.
Some people will point to this and exclaim this is why the All-Star voting system is broken or they should remove fan voting altogether. At the end of the day, the All-Star game is essentially a super scrimmage it does not hold any real consequences within the 2021-22 season. The All-Star Game is for the fans, let them vote in whoever it may be that they want to see.