NBA 2021/22: Andrew Wiggins is an undeserving All-Star starter

It took him eight seasons but Andrew Wiggins, the first pick of the 2014 NBA draft is finally an All-Star, a feat he is actually worthy of based on his performance for the Golden State Warriors so far this season.

The surprising part of this is that Wiggins made the Western Conference All-Star team as a starter, which he certainly does not deserve for multiple reasons.

The NBA All-Star game features the best players in the league as voted for by the fans, media and players themselves every year based on performances in the first half of the season in question. 

The idea is to have the 24 best players in the NBA go against each other in teams of 12 players each and of course five starters. That means the starters are supposed to be the elite, the best of the best players in the NBA at the moment so how did Andrew Wiggins get there?

As earlier mentioned, majority of the power lies with the fans as they have 50% of the voting, while players and the media are expected to provide objectivity and some sort of checks and balances with 25% each.

It is perhaps telling that Wiggins was fifth in player voting and considered sixth by the media for the Western Conference frontcourt positions. Those votes would have still seen him make the All-Star game but not as a starter but the Canadian obviously has a lot of fan love.

There's no denying that Andrew Wiggins is currently playing the best basketball of his nearly decade-long NBA career right now. The small forward has been thriving on the wing for Golden State Warriors with 18 points per game on 57.8% shooting and a 40% accuracy from 3-point range.

The Canadian has been superb defensively as well and is finally proving competent enough to be a dependable option for a contending team. However, Wiggins still has a long way to go in maximising his early potential as he appears no longer capable of reaching the heights that earned him the nickname 'Maple Jordan'.

While Wiggins' current gameplay could not possibly be farther from Michael Jordan, we have already established he got the votes mostly because he has been playing well.

The obvious reason is that being an All-Star starter paints the picture that Wiggins is actually among the top five players in the Western Conference, which he is not in any way.

This becomes even more infuriating when you consider the number of better Western Conference players who are not starters. The likes of Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Luka Doncic, Donovan Mitchell, Damian Lillard are all Western Conference Players who are miles ahead of Wiggins but will not be starters at the 2022 NBA All-Star game in February.

While it's true that those players are not starters, it is not exactly Wiggins' fault in all fairness, the NBA's voting guidelines are more to blame for that.

Voting is divided into two categories for each conference, backcourt and frontcourt which means all of those guys were never in competition for an All-Star spot with Wiggins.

Either one of Utah Jazz's Rudy Gobert or Wiggins' former Timberwolves teammate, Karl-Anthony Towns could have taken that frontcourt spot in the Western Conference. 

Even Wiggins' current teammate, Draymond Green would have been a less controversial choice to partner LeBron James and Nikola Jokic in that frontcourt but that is not the case.

The 26-year old has also been a beneficiary of the misfortune of other Western Conference superstars so far this season.

If anyone of Kawhi Leonard, Paul George or Anthony Davis had not been hampered by injuries, they would have claimed that spot without batting an eye, Wiggins would not have stood a chance.