Lakers News: Kyle Kuzma leads Western Conference rookies in All-Star voting

All-Star weekend in Los Angeles might be a little strange without a member of the Lakers in the lineup, but the first round of voting results has Kyle Kuzma in position to make a sneak attack up the list.

The early results have Kuzma notching 184,338 votes, good for ninth among frontcourt players in the Western Conference. He’s less than 4,000 votes behind Karl-Anthony Towns (188,240), but over 30,000 above LaMarcus Aldridge (153,599). Kuzma also happens to be the leading vote-getter among rookies in the Western Conference.

Out East, Ben Simmons has already clocked 210,085 votes, leading “first-year” players on the other side of the NBA. Lonzo Ball also makes an appearance on the list, tallying 120,817 votes. That places him eighth in the West’s guards list, behind Damian Lillard (148,622) and above Devin Booker (91,562).

It’s not necessarily surprising that Kuzma and Ball are both in the top-10 of voting, but they have a LOT of ground to cover to actually make the cut at this point. The good news for Lakers fans is the voting process is random enough that there’s still time and a chance to boost them even higher.

Voting is open until Jan. 15 at 11:59 p.m. ET, leaving 11 days for Lakers fans to rally around their rookies before the final numbers are in. The NBA is also offering “2-for-1 Days,” counting votes that go through the NBA app and NBA.com as double-votes. Jan. 4, 11, 12 and 15 will all be “double” days.

The most surprising thing about the first round of results has to be Giannis Antetokounmpo leading all players in votes at 863,416, dethroning LeBron James. Here’s the full breakdown of votes thus far:

So, Lakers fans, you know what to do. Vote from as many VPNs as you can sign-up for, create burner Twitter accounts for the #NBAVote hashtag, and crush the NBA’s voting ballot. It’s time to unite.

One nation, under Kuz, indivisible, with liberty and justice for Ball.