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He did it! After many long years in the NBA, DeMar DeRozan has been voted in as an All-Star starter for the Eastern Conference. Yes, this is in fact the second straight year he’s received that honour, but this is the first time the All-Star Game also happens to be in DeRozan’s hometown of Los Angeles.
Best fans in the world. #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/QsEnJgwZsT
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) January 18, 2018
This is actually the fourth time DeRozan has made it to the ASG — not counting his appearance in the Rookie-Sophomore game and dunk contest way back when. (He needs one more to tie Chris Bosh and Vince Carter in that department.) Now, we don’t need to go into the reasons why DeRozan deserve the honour this year — real quick: he’s leading the Raptors in scoring, he put up 52 points, he’s the best he’s ever been as a player, etc. — but we do need to celebrate.
From the official press release, DeRozan had this to say:
“Having the opportunity to play an NBA All-Star Game in my hometown is amazing, and being able to represent Toronto – my other home – makes it even better,” DeRozan said. “It’s a great honour to be selected as a starter again, and I want to thank my teammates and coaches, the fans across Canada, the media, and the entire NBA community. I appreciate your votes.”
And here he is on TNT:
"I don't know why we don't get it, but we're working towards getting that respect, for sure." @DeMar_DeRozan joined the #TNT crew to talk being named a 2018 #NBAAllStar starter and new voting system. pic.twitter.com/OQ06xGd7xA
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) January 18, 2018
DeRozan joins a team with Kyrie Irving, Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, and Joel Embiid. And they’ll face off against Steph Curry, James Harden, Kevin Durant, DeMarcus Cousins, and Anthony Davis.
Our TV overlords at TNT will reveal the reserves (as picked by NBA head coaches) on January 23rd at 7pm. And then we’ll get the full rosters on the 25th at 7.
Note: we won’t know who is playing for the East or West because this year the NBA is having the two top vote getters (LeBron and Curry, naturally) act as captains for each team. They’ll pick their rosters — in secret — and then we’ll go from there. It’s silly, but those are the rules.
NBA All-Star Weekend kicks off on February, 16th, with the main event, as always, going down on the Sunday (the 18th).
Congrats DeMar!