Anecdotally, the most popular choice to replace an injured Kevin Love in the All-Star game: Bradley Beal.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s actual choice: Carmelo Anthony.
Beal, via Candace Buckner of The Washington Post:
For previous injury replacements, Silver has said he deferred to next player in the coaches’ reserve voting -- though I wonder whether Silver has sometimes just used that point to justify a selection he made for other reasons. Anthony is the biggest name available, which will raise questions, fair or not.
But I wouldn’t be surprised if Anthony was eighth in the coaches’ vote, one spot behind initial reserve selection. He’s an established veteran, and coaches tend to reward those.
Still, Beal is playing better than Anthony, especially lately. Since All-Star reserves were announced, Beal has averaged 24 points per game, shooting 55% from the field and 45% on 3-pointers, and the Wizards have gone 8-1.
Silver should have considered that, even though coaches didn’t have the opportunity.
Then again, maybe he did and still picked Anthony. Maybe Silver just followed the coaches. Maybe he judged based on name recognition. The commissioner can pick All-Star injury replacements however he pleases.
In the absence of a transparent process, whether there’s a private process or not, we’ll get confusion like Beal’s.