Utah Jazz star Karl Malone, spurned a year ago by voters, got his revenge Thursday. The Mailman was named to the West All-Star starting lineup, having garnered more votes than any forward in the conference.
The annual All-Star Game will be staged Feb. 10 in Charlotte, N.C.Malone joins Golden State's Chris Mullin, San Antonio's David Robinson, L.A.'s Magic Johnson and Phoenix's Kevin Johnson on the starting lineup for the West.
The East team includes Chicago's Michael Jordan and Detroit's Isiah Thomas at guard, Philadelphia's Charles Barkley and Boston's Larry Bird at forward and New York's Patrick Ewing at center.
Jordan drew nearly twice as many fan votes as any player, with 1,217,429. Robinson was the West's leading vote-getter, with 695,519. Meanwhile, Malone received the third-most overall votes in the West (609,201), behind Robinson and Magic Johnson (665,354).
The remaining seven players on both teams are picked by the coaches.
Three other Jazz players were high in the voting and could be selected as reserves. John Stockton was fourth in the balloting for guards (344,118), right behind Portland's Clyde Drexler (349,995). Teammate Jeff Malone was sixth in the voting, behind Denver's Chris Jackson. And Mark Eaton finished third among centers, behind Houston's Akeem Olajuwon.
Remaining players on the All-Starteams will be named Saturday or Sunday.
In related news, Atlanta's Dominique Wilkins leads the contestants in the annual slam-dunk competition, set for Feb. 9. Wilkins, seeking his third title, is joined by Charlotte's Rex Chapman and Kendall Gill, Boston's Dee Brown, Seattle's Shawn Kemp, Houston's Kenny Smith, Orlando's Otis Smith and Indiana's Kenny Williams.
Three-point contestants include Chicago's Craig Hodges, Portland's Drexler and Danny Ainge, Golden State's Tim Hardaway, Philadelphia's Hersey Hawkins, Miami's Glen Rice, Orlando's Dennis Scott and Milwaukee's Jack Sikma.
The Schick Legends Classic will include Rick Barry, Dave DeBusschere, Sam Jones, Jerry Lucas, Oscar Robertson, Tom Burleson, Dave Cowens, Phil Ford, George Gervin, Artis Gilmore and Bobby Jones, among others.