Washington Wizards: How to vote Russell Westbrook in as an All-Star

The Washington Wizards haven’t had much success with Russell Westbrook this season, but he’s still putting up All-Star numbers.

Through 19 games, the arrival of Russell Westbrook in Washington has not generated much winning. The Washington Wizards are currently 2-11 with Westbrook and 3-3 without him. He hasn’t been quite as durable as Wizards owner Ted Leonsis advertised when Westbrook arrived. A quad injury sidelined him for a few games, and he’s resting on back-to-backs.

Because of all that, Westbrook has missed seven of the team’s first 19 games. But in his dozen appearances, he’s putting up All-Star level individual numbers. As a Wizard, Westbrook is averaging 20.0 points, 9.1 rebounds, 9.0 assists.

Westbrook ranks 17th in the NBA in rebounds per game — first, if you remove centers and power forwards from the rankings — and fourth in assists per game. He’s been doing all of this while injured, too.

In 13 games, Westbrook has nine double-doubles and five triple-doubles. Luka Doncic leads the NBA with six triple-doubles, and Nikola Jokic and Westbrook are tied for second with five. However, Doncic has played 23 games and Jokic 22, far fewer than Westbrook. Unfortunately, the Wizards haven’t been able to capitalize on the triple-doubles. All five of those games have ended in L’s for Washington. Westbrook’s individual net rating on the season is -5.9.

For years, Russell Westbrook has been an All-Star game fixture. He represented the Western Conference every year since 2011, except in 2014 when he missed 27 games mid-season. During two of his nine appearances, Westbrook left the All-Star game with the MVP award. It would be a real shame, and kind of embarrassing, if Westbrook’s All-Star game streak ends while in a Wizards uniform. It’d be another strike against a franchise that is already blamed for wasting Beal’s prime years.

Here’s how you can get Russell Westbrook to the All-Star Game.

So how do you make sure Westbrook’s All-Star streak doesn’t end while in a Wizards uniform? You vote! Here’s how it’s done, Wizards fans. To get Beal or any other Wizards player to the All-Star game, you can vote through the NBA app, vote.nba.com, and Twitter. On the app and vote.nba.com, you can fill out full rosters for both the Eastern and Western Conference teams, with a limit of one All-Star roster every 24 hours. On Twitter, fans can vote for individual players by tweeting a player’s full, hashtagged name (#RussellWestbrook, #BradleyBeal) or Twitter handle along with #NBAAllStar. If you see someone else’s All-Star tweet on your timeline, a retweet can work as a vote for them, too.

With all these ways to vote, there’s no reason not to flood the virtual ballot boxes for Westbrook. Just make sure to get your votes in by February 16. Final All-Star selections will be determined by a combination of fan votes (50 percent), player votes (25 percent), and media votes (25 percent).