:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/48523435/GettyImages-139562724.0.jpg)
In a somewhat surprising turn, both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin are on the outside looking in after the second NBA All-Star voting returns were released today. DeAndre Jordan and the rest of the crew are, predictably, well out of contention.
From the West Coast backcourt perspective, Paul looks to be dead in the water as well. He's a surefire all-star of course, but the Point God is a solid 210,000 votes behind Russell Westbrook for the second guard slot. Even with some help from the Biebs tonight (two tweets from Justin Bieber netted almost 50,000 votes for Paul), it seems pretty unlikely that Russell will be caught (not to mention that Paul convincing a pop star to get tween girls to retweet something makes an absurd voting process even sillier).
Blake Griffin, however, has a better shot. He's currently in 5th in the frontcourt voting, but he's only about 32,000 votes behind Kawhi Leonard for 4th place and 34,000 votes behind Draymond Green for 3rd place and the final starting spot. That's a manageable gap, but Blake could have a hard time making it work considering the Clippers' recent 7-0 record without him, and the likelihood that he'll be missing more games doesn't help.
Both of these guys are going to represent the Clippers in the All-Star game--that's a lock. For the last two years, Griffin has started and Paul has come off of the bench. For the two prior games, in 2013 and 2012, the two superstar teammates started alongside each other. The last time Griffin wasn't chosen as a starter, he represented the West as a reserve in his rookie year. Chris Paul has been selected for 8 All-Star games in his ten-year career.
If you want to see your Clippers represented in the NBA All-Star game, go vote! There's more ways than ever--you could probably spell it out in your alphabet soup and the league would figure out how to tally it. Post "#NBAVote Blake Griffin" and "#NBAVote Chris Paul" on Twitter, and vote on NBA.com. Or, you know, you could give in to what those pesky rims are demanding.
To see the full voting returns for both conferences on NBA.com, click here.