OKLAHOMA CITY — Karl-Anthony Cities’ landing in All-Star voting did not go unnoticed by his teammate.
“Kat, do you see the distinction between New York and Minnesota?” Josh Hart stated the Friday morning earlier than The Knicks’ 117-107 loss to the Thunder. “A distinction of one million.”
Cities, who had 17 factors and 22 rebounds within the loss, obtained an estimated 1.1 million votes within the first returns of fan All-Star voting, the third-highest complete within the East behind solely Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jayson Tatum.
Final 12 months with the Timberwolves, Cities garnered simply 139,642 votes within the first spherical of fan voting.
So it isn’t fairly one million, nevertheless it’s shut sufficient.
“Geographical variations,” replied Cities, a four-time All-Star however by no means a starter.
The opposite distinction is that Cities’ stats have skyrocketed this season with the Knicks, the place he entered Friday with profession rebounding averages (13.7), discipline purpose proportion (54.8 p.c), 3-point proportion factors (44 p.c) and reached his highest factors per sport (24.9) for the reason that pre-pandemic interval.
However with Cities having fun with an enormous market bounce, Jalen Brunson was curiously underrated by followers with simply 477,253 votes — good for seventh within the East and roughly half the LaMelo Ball complete.
Fan voting ends on January twentieth.
Brunson completed ninth within the East final 12 months however was named a reserve. Assuming he does not end within the top-2 in fan voting for the East backcourt, Brunson may nonetheless theoretically earn a beginning spot by profitable the coaches’ and gamers’ votes (they account for 25 p.c every, whereas the fan vote is 50 p.c ).
Both approach, the Knicks, using a nine-game profitable streak heading into Friday’s matchup towards the Thunder, are anticipated to land two stars.
not less than.
They’ve three different potential starters, however Josh Hart, who leads the group in triple-doubles, scoffed at his candidacy.
“Can I get an All-Star? Hell no, he stated. “I really feel like [coaches] I respect what I do, however like I stated, my sport is not all glitz and glamor that begets that sort of recognition. And I am high-quality with that. I’m the servant of those boys [Brunson, Towns, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby]. I need to make sure that they’re good. I need them to get the honors.”
Hart additionally has tropical plans for this 12 months’s All-Star Weekend in San Francisco.
“I need my toes to the touch some sand in February,” he stated, including that an All-Star nod can be wonderful for me and the gamers.
He is voiced by Townes.
“Josh Hart for All-Star,” the middle stated. “I need his weekend to be ruined.”
