The NBA All-Star starters were announced Thursday, and along with that announcement the NBA, as it does every year, released the voting results.

The All-Star starters are decided by a combination of votes that are weighted — fan votes (50%), media votes (25%) and votes from NBA players (25%). Without fail, every year that these are released, it is clear that there are a lot of players in the NBA that do not take their vote seriously.

For the sake of this article, let’s look just at the Western Conference frontcourt voting results. Click on that link to follow along.

The most obvious, popular and best players usually rise to the top because of a combination of the fan, media and player votes. So, LeBron James, Nikola Jokic and Zion Williamson were named All-Star starters by having the most votes after the weighted total was calculated.

We can also see that the next two players on the list were Anthony Davis and the Jazz’s own Lauri Markkanen. And Markkanen received the fourth-most player votes of any West frontcourt player.

“It feels good to get that, but same time I don’t really look too much into it,” Markkanen said. “The work continues. Obviously, the top three only really count, but it feels good to know that there’s players who we play against every day (that voted for me). That they’ve been seeing it, makes it a little bit better.”

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But if we continue to look at the “player total votes” section of the voting results, we can see that some players are just voting for teammates or writing in names, knowing that they won’t count or even that they aren’t deserving.

Jazz frontcourt players who received All-Star votes from NBA players (actual real NBA players!) include Markkanen (73), Walker Kessler (2), Jarred Vanderbilt (1), Simone Fontecchio (1), Rudy Gay (1), Leandro Bolmaro (2), Udoka Azubuike (2) and Micah Potter (1).

I’m not trying to throw any shade at anyone, but I think that we can all agree that most of the players listed above are not NBA All-Stars. I mean, Micah Potter is a two-way player who has played a total of 14 minutes of NBA basketball. There are literally players who haven’t played in a single NBA game that got All-Star votes.

When players are voting, they are given pretty much the same ballot instructions as fans. They are sent a link and asked to list two guards and three frontcourt players for each conference. Clearly, some players are just voting for their teammates and friends and aren’t taking the voting very seriously.

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I imagine that there were probably a few Jazz players who voted for Markkanen and then just two other frontcourt players on the Jazz roster.

But think about what Markkanen said. When he saw that there were 73 players that voted for him, it was validating. Players work really hard to become All-Stars and especially for players who are on the brink of making their first All-Star team, it can be incredible to know that the players who you are going against every night recognize the work you’ve put in and the accolades that you deserve.

Plus, this is all anonymous, so who cares if you vote for opposing players rather than the 15th guy on your own roster?

I asked Markkanen if he took the voting process seriously and he said that he absolutely does.

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“Yeah. If there’s teammates who have been playing up to that level then you support your teammates,” he said. “But yeah, I’ve been seeing some that might have not been so serious. I don’t do that.”

I just imagine that for guys like Markkanen, Domantas Sabonis, Aaron Gordon and others, who have really been incredible this season on new teams, in a really stacked and competitive Western Conference, it probably sucks to see that two-way players and guys who only get minutes in garbage time are getting All-Star votes from their peers. I wish that the NBA players took the process a little more seriously.

This is obviously not the biggest problem in the world, and I’m sure there are a lot of people who really don’t care. But an NBA player becoming an All-Star literally earns them more money, it changes the perception of them around the league, puts them on a larger and more public platform, showcases them to a global audience and can have an impact on endorsement deals and a number of other things.

For as much as we hear the players talk about the NBA being a family and there being a brotherhood, you’d think they would handle these things with a little more care.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver speaks during a news conference at Vivint Smart Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019, in Salt Lake City. The NBA announced that Salt Lake City has been selected to host the NBA All-Star Game in 2023. | Rick Bowmer, Associated Press
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