Luka Doncic named a starter in the 2021 NBA All-Star Game

Per Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes, Luka Doncic has been named a starter in the 2021 NBA All-Star Game. Doncic came in second in Western Conference backcourt voting to Steph Curry and narrowly edged out Damian Lillard thanks to the fan-vote tiebreaker.

Here’s a full breakdown of the voting:

For Luka, this will be his second time as an All-Star starter in three years of playing NBA basketball. That’s quite the feat.

It was well-known that it was going to be a toss-up between Luka and Damian Lillard for that second backcourt spot. Steph, basically mimicking his unanimous MVP season (in terms of individual numbers), was locked in at No. 1. Both Luka and Dame are having incredible seasons and it’s an exercise in nitpicking to try to choose between the two guys.

Doncic is averaging 29.1 points per game on 47.5 percent shooting from the field and 33.5 percent shooting from deep to go along with 9.4 assists, and 8.6 rebounds. Dame is averaging 29.8 points per game on 45.1 percent shooting from the field and 38.4 percent shooting from deep to go along with 7.7 assists and 4.4 rebounds.

The numbers probably tilt in Luka’s favor, but the Blazers are unquestionably a better team right now, sitting at fourth place in the West with an 18-10 record. The Mavs’ struggles are well-documented and the team is currently 10th in the West with a 13-15 record.

Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter who starts and who comes off the bench. The only real thing to come from it is that Luka now qualifies for the “Derrick Rose Rule.” Essentially, that just means he can sign for 30% of the max instead of 25% when he signs his extension. (Check out this article for more information on the “Rose Rule.”)

Even though Luka was voted in via the fan-vote tiebreaker, it’s still an honor to be named an All-Star starter. The game probably shouldn’t be happening, but since it is, it’ll be fun to have Luka in the starting lineup.