NBA 2018-19: Why the early NBA All-Star voting results seem to be odd

DeMarcus Cousins

Golden State Warriors v Los Angeles Lakers

DeMarcus Cousins tore his Achilles heel tendon last season almost a year ago on January 26th, 2018 while playing for the New Orleans Pelicans. He has not played in a game since. Now with the Golden State Warriors, on a 1-year deal, Cousins began scrimmaging with his Warriors’ teammates on December 28th, 2018.

While Cousins did average 25 points and 12.9 rebounds per game through 48 games last season, Cousins may fall into that Yao Ming category and might not actually deserve consideration as a Western Conference frontcourt All-Star.

Cousins received 92,977 early votes and is ranked 10th by voting for Western Conference frontcourt players. DeMarcus Cousins has been an NBA All-Star four times, in his career, from 2015-2018.

He has also accumulated 21.5 points and 11 rebounds per game for his career, so far, but has not played at all this season. While his vote tally won’t affect the starting line up out west, it was just odd to see his name in all-star consideration after he hasn’t played an NBA game in almost 12 months.