January 19, 2017
NEW ORLEANS – New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis has been named a starter on the NBA Western Conference All-Star team, the league announced today. Davis, a fourth-time All-Star, joins Chris Paul as the only other player in franchise history to be named an All-Star starter at least twice. Davis is also the second player to be named to at least four All-Star teams in franchise history, again joining Chris Paul.
Davis, 23, is averaging 28.8 points, 12.1 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game, ranking him third, sixth, and second in the NBA in each statistical category, respectively. His 27 double-doubles rank him tied for sixth in the NBA, and his 28.2 Player Efficiency Rating ranks fourth in the NBA. Davis has produced 20 30-point games and five 40-point games, including a season-high 50 points on opening night, as well as a league-leading 11 30-point, 15-rebound games.
Previously, the University of Kentucky product was named a reserve for the 2014 NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans, was named a starter and was the leading vote-getter for Western Conference frontcourt players for the 2015 All-Star Game in New York City (was unable to play due to injury) and was a reserve in last year’s All-Star game in Toronto. Davis also appeared in the BBVA® Rising Stars Challenge in 2013 and 2014, and participated in last year’s Taco Bell® Skills Challenge as part of State Farm® All-Star Saturday Night. In the two All-Star games in which Davis has played in, he has averaged 17.0 points on .895 shooting from the floor, 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 12.5 minutes.
Joining Davis in the starting lineup for the Western Conference is Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant (Golden State Warriors), James Harden (Houston Rockets) and Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio Spurs). The Eastern Conference starting lineup will feature Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks), Jimmy Butler (Chicago Bulls), DeMar DeRozan (Toronto Raptors) and Kyrie Irving and LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers).
Davis, who finished with 974,802 fan votes (fourth in the west frontcourt), also finished with 105 player votes (third in west frontcourt), and 78 media votes (third in west frontcourt).
Fans accounted for 50 percent of the vote to determine the NBA All-Star Game starters, while current players and a media panel accounted for 25 percent each. Fans cast more than 38 million votes during NBA All-Star Voting 2017 presented by Verizon, a 146% increase from the same time period last year.
After all votes were tallied, players were ranked in each conference by position (guard and frontcourt) within each of the three voting groups – fan votes, player votes and media votes. Each player’s score was calculated by averaging his weighted rank from the fan votes, the player votes and the media votes. The five players (two guards and three frontcourt players) with the best score in each conference were named NBA All-Star Game starters.
The Eastern Conference and Western Conference starting lineups for the 66th NBA All-Star Game were revealed tonight on TNT, which will also unveil the All-Star reserves on Thursday, Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. ET.
NBA All-Star 2017 in New Orleans will bring together some of the most talented and passionate players in the league’s history for a global celebration of the game. The 66th NBA All-Star Game, which will take place on Sunday, Feb. 19 at Smoothie King Center, will reach fans in more than 200 countries and territories in more than 40 languages. TNT will televise the All-Star Game for the 15th consecutive year, marking Turner Sports’ 32nd year of NBA All-Star coverage. Smoothie King Center will also host the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge on Friday, Feb. 17 and State Farm All-Star Saturday Night on Saturday, Feb. 18. The NBA All-Star Practice, NBA All-Star Celebrity Game and NBA Development League All-Star Game presented by Kumho Tire will take place at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
