Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, left, jokes with forward Richard Jefferson before player introductions as the Mavericks face the Denver Nuggets in the first quarter of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2015, in Denver. AP
DALLAS, United States — Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban suggests the NBA should eliminate fan balloting for the All-Star game, saying the leading total of 1.5 million votes for Golden State’s Stephen Curry was so low it was “embarrassing.”
Cuban says the squads should be expanded to 14 players from the current 12. He said coaches or general managers or both should choose the teams.
The outspoken owner said the low total for Curry was evidence that the “system’s broken, absolutely, positively broken.”
“And fans are allowed to vote more than once, right?” Cuban asks. “That’s embarrassing. To think that we couldn’t get people to vote enough times. No one even tried to hack it. That’s how bored they are.”
Toronto outfielder Jose Bautista led Major League Baseball’s All-Star fan voting last year with about 5.9 million ballots.
Cuban said he didn’t know how NBA All-Star voting was trending in recent years, and said he favors people voting if the numbers were better because “then the fans have spoken.”
“But when the number of voters isn’t enough to even get anybody to notice … that means basically .01 percent of NBA fans cared enough to vote,” Cuban said.
The NBA said balloting was up 28 percent over last year despite the voting window being almost a month shorter, and the vote was more spread out because every player was eligible for the first time.
Curry finished about 42,000 votes ahead of LeBron James. The All-Star game is on Feb. 15 in New York.
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