Andrew Wiggins of the Golden State Warriors isn’t a bad basketball player by any means – but is he really worthy of being an All-Star starter?
That’s the reality NBA fans are faced with now as Wiggins was selected as one of the starting players for next month’s All-Star Game.
Many people were left scratching their heads when the news about Wiggins was announced.
Representing the @warriors as 2022 #NBAAllStar starters! @22wiggins • @StephenCurry30 pic.twitter.com/Gz1npN3vzI
— #NBAAllStar (@NBAAllStar) January 28, 2022
Sure, he’s put up 18.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.1 assists a game this season – which are all very impressive stats, of course.
But he is passed by other players in the league such as Damian Lillard, Draymond Green, Karl-Anthony Towns, and more.
So how did this happen?
K-Pop Popularity
Wiggins landed 3.4 million fan votes for the All-Star Game, which is more than the combined total of Green and Jazz center Rudy Gobert.
Yes, he’s a great player but those are some astronomical numbers – how did he pull that off?
Well, he didn’t pull it off alone.
If you’re a fan of K-Pop music, you have likely heard of Thai star BamBam.
BamBam is a big thing all over the world and he’s also a massive Warriors fan.
On January 7, BamBam tweeted to his followers: “He is one of the best two-way players! Wiggs deserves to be an All-Star, vote Andrew Wiggins into the 2022 NBA All-Star Game.”
The legion of BamBam fans did exactly as their idol requested and voted in droves for Wiggins.
And they happened to do it on specially-designated “two-for-one” voting days.
That made Wiggins’ standing skyrocket and earned him a place in the games.
“I thought I was dreaming for a second.”@22wiggins is officially an #NBAAllStar 👏 pic.twitter.com/vK6hc7jFyE
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) January 28, 2022
If you want to thank (or blame) anyone for Wiggins starting in the All-Star Game, you should take it up with BamBam and his ravenous fans.
Breaking The Rules?
You might be wondering how this wasn’t prevented.
The NBA actually has some rules in place to make sure a particularly engaged fanbase doesn’t drastically sway All-Star voting.
Yes, the league wants fans to help determine who plays in the game but they don’t want them to be the only voice.
Back in 2017, Zaza Pachulia garnered a lot of support from his home country of Georgia and it nearly got him starting in the All-Star Game.
It was then the NBA decided to change the way voting worked: fan voting still existed but it controlled just 50 percent of the selection process.
Media voters and players are each responsible for 25 percent of the votes.
This new system of checks and balances was created to prevent any sort of hinky fan voting gone haywire.
Yet, even the media and players can’t compete in a situation like Wiggins’.
When it came to the media voting, Wiggins secured only four votes – and 46 from players.
But because of the totally lop-sided voting from fans, Wiggins was far-and-away the frontrunner to play.
Yes, Wiggins got into the All-Star Game in a somewhat dubious way.
However, he really has been having a wonderful season and has been proving himself in some huge ways this year.
Wiggins is finally living up to the hype around him and that should be celebrated.
People might be mad about him starting in the All-Star Game but they can’t deny he’s really become something special for Golden State.
NEXT: Draymond Green Already Has A Second Career Lined Up
