Chapter 842: Chapter 842

In other words, if it were still like before, where fans directly vote for the starting lineup, then Wade and Ross would be chosen as All-Star starters again at the end of their careers.

This is all about sentiment.

However, this sentiment from fans isn’t without reason.

As for Wade, even though he didn’t explicitly announce this as his final season like Kobe did back then, you can still see it from many details.

Firstly, Wade chose not to stay with the Cavaliers but returned to the Heat where his dreams began, which is a standard operation for a veteran retiring and going back to where it started. Follow current novels on 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡✶𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚✶𝙣𝙚𝙩

Moreover, this year Wade frequently exchanged jerseys with opposing players during games, which confirms this point even further.

In 2006, Wade helped the Heat win their first championship, and later assisted the Cavaliers in winning two consecutive championships, establishing a dynasty, particularly contributing significantly to the second title with the famous champagne pouring on the knee scene. His historical status may not be at Kobe’s level, but he is indeed the third greatest shooting guard after Kobe.

Even without a retirement tour, fans will still show him enough respect in various ways.

Meanwhile, Ross’s case is more about the fan base he accumulated back in the day and his outstanding performance this season.

This season, Ross is averaging 20 points with the Timberwolves and even delivered a career-high single-game performance of 50 points, bringing tears to both himself and many fans.

Additionally, it’s worth mentioning that Doncic received a massive 4.2 million votes!

Although this year the Eastern frontcourt competition is extremely fierce and he couldn’t shake the positions of Durant, Jokic, and Antetokounmpo, it shows his popularity.

In his rookie year, Doncic’s playing style is exceptionally nimble, providing a fresh experience.

For the Kings, both Tatum and Mitchell received 3 million and 2.6 million votes respectively.

Compared to last year when both had votes in the hundreds of thousands, Hansen’s stage and popularity truly made a difference.

But with the current All-Star voting mechanism, fans’ votes only account for 50%, and the remaining 50% is divided equally between the media and players’ selections, each taking 25%.

And with the final combination of the three, Wade and Ross were removed from the starting lineup, replaced by home crowd favorites Kemba Walker and the Rockets’ main player James Harden.①

From a rational perspective, this is a more reasonable result as both Walker and Harden’s seasonal performance and personal capabilities are more deserving.

Still, All-Star is ultimately for the fans, and the fans are clearly dissatisfied with this result.

As the opinions continued to ferment, Silva made a decision that violated the league’s rules: he allocated an additional slot for both the East and the West.

The slot for the East went to Wade, and the one for the West went to Ross.

Hansen was surprised to see this outcome.

It wasn’t the allocation itself that surprised him, because as time gets closer to his era before crossing, his memories of these events become clearer.

He remembers this year it was allocated, but it was given to Wade and Nowitzki, even forcing Nowitzki, who originally didn’t plan to retire, into retirement.

Unexpectedly, changes occurred in the outcome, regardless of whether Nowitzki would retire later, this wave completely fulfilled the fans’ expectations, because voting represents the wishes of the majority of fans.

And such change has a significant relation to Ross’s previous experiences with the Cavaliers.

That championship run with the Cavaliers not only gave some people more titles but also greatly altered their destinies.

Hansen sent congratulatory messages to both Wade and Ross because enjoying such treatment at the twilight of their careers is another fairy tale belonging to the NBA.

Just after the All-Star roster announcement, the league announced this year’s All-Star game captains.

After Hansen moved from the East to the West, the captaincy dramatically changed; Durant became the captain for the East, naturally Hansen was the captain for the West.

As for last year’s captain James, and Curry, who was hugely anticipated last year, they only had supporting roles in front of Hansen.

At this time, some James fans, belatedly realized that Hansen and James are now in the same conference again; even beyond the superficial All-Star voting outcomes, if unable to defeat Hansen, it would be like before, they’d even lose the chance for a runner-up title.

Last year’s live picking program was immensely popular, therefore logically, it wouldn’t change this year. Due to last year’s success, this year’s picking even brought some fans to the scene, creating quite the spectacle.

Even the pregame decision phase of selection became complex, with Hansen and Durant sitting on chairs shooting three-pointers, seeing who could make more out of five attempts.

In such a more capability-based than luck-based scenario, Hansen wasn’t as unlucky as last year; he made three out of five shots, surpassing Durant’s two, gaining first pick.

Hansen’s first pick was Jokic.

Although they are no longer on the same team, Hansen’s fondness for Jokic hasn’t diminished at all.

Durant immediately picked Davis.

Unlike last year’s constant tricks from James, Durant’s selection is quite conventional, especially considering there are only two genuine center players in the starter lineup.

Without too much maneuvering, their selections proceeded quite swiftly.

Hansen subsequently picked Curry and Antetokounmpo, while Durant picked Irving and Harden.

And when only Kemba Walker and James were left in the starter pool, Hansen didn’t hesitate to pick... Walker.

Durant had a helpless expression, last year’s captain James ended up being the one left over.

Last year it was James Harden left over, this year it’s James, it’s all James, but unlike last year’s maneuvering outcome, this year it really seemed like neither side wanted James.

However, this year’s starter lineup, Walker + Curry + Hansen + Antetokounmpo + Jokic VS Irving + Harden + Durant + James + Davis, looks more balanced than last year.

If they were to play seriously for a quarter like last year, the competition would be quite interesting.

In the substitute selection phase, Durant picked Leonard as his first choice.

When traded last summer, the biggest risk for the Raptors was Leonard not playing, but unexpectedly, this year Leonard had both high attendance and MVP-level performance.

The joke fans made back then reversed this season: Leonard generally doesn’t play, but when he does, he’s unstoppable.

In retrospect, the Raptors made a brilliant trade.

Durant’s choice also shows it was realistic, aiming for victory.

Hansen, on the other hand, played on the sentiment, picking Wade first.

It’s Wade’s retirement season, which is also Hansen and Wade’s last opportunity to play on the same team.

As the All-Star game approaches, the league also begins to promote using [sentiment] as the theme.

The sentiment of Wade and Ross being chosen, Hansen, Wade, Ross, those Cavaliers dynasty players teaming up again, Curry fulfilling his promise of participating in Charlotte’s three-point contest, and Hansen appearing as a dunk contest guest for Mitchell—all these sentiments set the tone for this All-Star game.

And this, will attract more fans’ attention to this event.

The day before the All-Star weekend, Hansen took his private jet to Charlotte.

Although only he was selected for the main game this year, besides him, Tatum, Mitchell, and Hield were also on the plane.

Tatum and Mitchell were headed to participate in this year’s rookie game, Hield was going to the three-point contest.

However, the busiest of them is Mitchell, who will also be participating in the skills challenge, three-point contest, and dunk contest, making him the weekend’s all-around workhorse.

All-Star Final Results:

The East starters: Irving, Kemba Walker, Durant, Antetokounmpo, Jokic

Substitutes: Lowry, Butler, Bill, Leonard, Griffin, Towns, Embiid

The West starters: Curry, Harden, Hansen, James, Anthony Davis

Substitutes: Lillard, Westbrook, Klay Thompson, Hayward, George, Alderich

Additional slot: The East: Wade; The West: Ross