all star

Casey Holdahl

Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard tends to draw a lot of attention when he's on the court. He's been getting a fair amount off the court lately as well.

First, Lillard picked up 187,910 votes in the last week of fan voting for starters at the 2023 All-Star Game, scheduled to be held February 19 in Salt Lake City. But Lillard still remains in seventh among Western Conference guards in the latest round of returns. He's got considerably more votes that Lakers guard Austin Reaves, who is averaging 10.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists as a part-time starter this season, in eighth but is well behind another Lakers guard, Russell Westbrook, in sixth.

It’s mostly academic at this point anyway, as Golden State’s Stephen Curry at over five million votes and Dallas’ Luka Doncic at nearly five million votes are far ahead of the rest of the Western Conference guards, but if nothing else, you should continue voting if for no other reason than to keep him from falling below Reaves, Devin Booker and De’Aaron Fox, all of whom who trail Lillard with a few more days of fan voting left to go. Voting ends on Saturday, with the starters announced a few days later on TNT.

One also assumes that Lillard, who is averaging 29.2 points on 45 percent shooting from the field and 36 percent shooting from three, 7.2 assists, 3.9 rebounds and nearly a steal per game this season, will do better in player and media voting -- fan ballots comprise 50 percent of the vote, while players and media vote split the other fifty percent -- than in fan voting, which favors players in larger markets and with significant international presences. So while he’s almost certain to not be named a starter, it’s very possible he finishes the voting for All-Star starters up few spots (for as much as that matters).

And of course, that doesn’t mean Lillard won’t make the All-Star team, as the rest of the rosters after the starters are determined by coaches vote. He’s not a lock to be named to the NBA midseason exhibition, but it would be rather surprising at this point if he wasn’t selected by the coaches. They know.

Then we come to the fans who vote with their wallets. According to the NBA, Lillard ranks tenth this season in jersey sales, at least based on numbers from NBAStore.com. The 6-3 guard out of Weber State slots in behind Joel Embiid in ninth and ahead of Trae Young in 11th. Lillard is one of only two players in the most recent top-selling jersey list whose team isn’t in the Top 10 of NBA Merchandise sales (Ja Morant is the other). Just another example of Lillard out-performing his stock.

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Lillard 10th In Jersey Sales, 7th In West All-Star Guard Voting

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PHOTOS: Damian Lillard at 8th Annual NBA Cares Special Olympics Unified Game

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PHOTOS » Meet Dame's All-Star Teammates

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PHOTOS » Damian Lillard's 2018 All-Star Campaign

Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard has been named an NBA Western Conference All-Star reserve by a vote of NBA head coaches, it was announced today by the league.  

Lillard, who was named NBA Western Conference Player of the Week for Week 14, is averaging 25.2 points (43.6% FG, 36.4% 3-PT, 91.7% FT), 4.8 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.03 steals.

Lillard is one of four NBA players averaging at least 25.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists this season (Curry, Harden, James). He is the only player in the NBA who has totaled at least 1,000 points, 190 rebounds, 260 assists and 110 three-pointers this season.

Despite missing seven games to injury, Lillard ranks in the top 15 in total points (1,007), total assists (265), three-pointers made (117) and free throws made (232). Among league qualifiers, Lillard is one of just four NBA players to rank in the top 10 in both points and assists per game.

An NBA All-Star in 2014 and 2015, Lillard is one of six players in franchise history to become a three-time All-Star.

The five starters in the Western Conference, decided by player, media and fan balloting, consist of DeMarcus Cousins (New Orleans), Stephen Curry (Golden State), Anthony Davis (New Orleans), Kevin Durant (Golden State) and James Harden (Houston). Rounding out the West’s reserves are LaMarcus Aldridge (San Antonio), Jimmy Butler (Minnesota), Draymond Green (Golden State), Klay Thompson (Golden State), Karl-Anthony Towns (Minnesota) and Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City).

As respective ballot winners from each conference, Curry will join Cleveland’s LeBron James as the captains charged with drafting each team under the NBA’s new All-Star format. They will choose from a player pool that includes the eight other starters, with no regard to conference designation, and 14 reserves (seven from each conference), chosen by NBA head coaches. Team rosters will be revealed on Thursday, Jan. 25 at 4 p.m. (Pacific) on TNT.

The 2018 NBA All-Star Game will tip-off at 5 p.m. (Pacific) on Sunday, Feb. 18, in Los Angeles. The game will air live on TNT.

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DAMIAN LILLARD NAMED NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE ALL-STAR

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Lillard Selected To 2018 NBA All-Star Game

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Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum has been named a contestant in the 2017 All-Star Three-Point Contest, the NBA announced today.

McCollum, 25, enters the competition for the second consecutive year on Saturday, Feb. 18. McCollum tallied 14 points in the preliminary round last season in Toronto.  

In 50 games played this season, McCollum ranks 14th in the NBA with a career-best 23.4 points per game on 48.4% shooting. His 42.3% three-point field goal percentage (127-for-300) ranks 10th in the NBA and also marks a career best. McCollum has improved his field goal and three-point shooting percentages each season. 

McCollum’s 14 games of at least four three-pointers are tied for the 11th-most in the NBA this season. His 409 career three-pointers recently surpassed Martell Webster for ninth on Portland’s all-time ledger.

He is the eighth Trail Blazer in franchise history to compete in the Three-Point Contest and second to compete twice, joining Kiki Vandeweghe (1987), Danny Ainge (1991), Clyde Drexler (1991), Terry Porter (1991, 1993), Cliff Robinson (1996), Damian Lillard (2014) and Wesley Matthews (2015). No Portland player has ever won the event.

State Farm All-Star Saturday night tips off at 5 p.m. (Pacific) live on TNT. The three-point contest is the second event of the evening. 

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CJ McCollum to Compete in All-Star Three-Point Contest in New Orleans

It's been less than 24 since the reserves for the Western Conference All-Stars were announced with the notable absence of Trail Blazers guards Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, but media around the country hasn't wasted any time sharing their opinions on the matter. 

As part of TNT's Thursday night NBA programming, Blazer legend Rasheed Wallace joined recent retiree Kevin Garnett on Area21 to discuss this year's snubs. Here's the highlights of their conversation regarding Lillard and McCollum: 

At ESPN's The Undefeated, Mark J. Spears makes the case for Lillard: 

Sports Illustrated's Ben Golliver contends Lillard can not be considered a snub given Portland's 20-27 record thus far in 2016-17:

The Washington Post's Tim Bontemps weighed-in on both Lillard and McCollum's cases: 

Tim Cato of SB Nation lists Lillard as one of the five biggest snubs from either conference: 

Michael Curtis of FOXSports.com writes of Lillard: 

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National Media Reacts to Lillard, McCollum All-Star Snubs

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