Dub Hub: Steph Curry ranks second amongst West guards in latest All-Star voting returns

Rounding up all Warriors and NBA related news for Friday, January 17th.

In today’s Dub Hub:

• Steph Curry ranks second amongst Western Conference guards in third round of All-Star voting returns.
• The Warriors remember assistant coach Dejan Milojević on the one year anniversary of his death.
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores 40 points in Thunder’s 134-114 victory over the Cavs.

The Golden State Warriors are set to host the 2024-25 NBA All-Star Game next month on February 16th. Warriors’ point guard Stephen Curry is the major draw for fans coming to the game and according to the latest NBA All-Star fan voting returns, Curry is currently slated to be a starter, ranking second amongst Western Conference guards with 1,793,150 votes.

Curry trails Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who leads all Western Conference guards with 2,405,404 votes after the third round of returns. Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokić paces the Western Conference frontcourt with 2,924,436 votes, while Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo tops all players with 3,489,956 votes.

Curry remains the heart and soul of the Warriors. The 36-year-old is leading the team in scoring, averaging 22.9 points per game in 32 games this season. His sharpshooting remains elite as he’s hitting 41.6% of his three-point attempts while leading the league with 4.4 threes made per game.

Fans have until next Monday to cast their votes, with ballots submitted on Friday and Monday counting three times as much. The All-Star starters will be announced next Thursday on TNT.

For more on this and other news around the NBA, here is our latest news round-up for Friday, January 17th:

Warriors News:

Where Steph stands in third NBA All-Star fan voting results | NBC Sports Bay Area

But Gilgeous-Alexander increased his lead over Curry from 441,685 votes to 612,254 votes. Dallas Mavericks star Luka Dončić, out due to a calf injury, is in third place behind Curry.

Warriors wing Andrew Wiggins still is in eighth place among Western Conference forwards, earning 410,011 votes on the latest round of balloting.

Fan ballots make up 50 percent of the voting to determine NBA All-Star Game starters, with player vote and media vote each making up 25 percent.

Warriors must realize current youngsters nothing like championship past | NBC Sports Bay Area

This Warriors roster has no “next” Curry. No “next” Draymond. No “next” Klay Thompson. And certainly no “next” Kevin Durant. That quartet, with capable assistance from such culture-altering vets as Andrew Bogut and Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston, built a monument.

Five consecutive trips to the NBA Finals represent a mythical achievement; no team had done in more than 50 years. Four championships in eight seasons? Only one other team has ever done it.

None of the youngsters on the Golden State’s roster has established himself as someone around whom championships can be built. Each, including Kuminga and Moody, in their fourth seasons, has questions yet to be answered about their true ceiling.

NBA Intel: Warriors, Bucks, Suns, Hornets, more | Hoops Hype

The Warriors have continued their due diligence on the trade market and inquired about potential frontcourt upgrades, including Nikola Vucevic, John Collins, Jonas Valanciunas, and Robert Williams, league sources told HoopsHype. Conversely, the chances of Golden State acquiring previously reported wing targets such as Jimmy Butler and Cam Johnson have decreased, sources said.

Kawakami: Why missing the playoffs might not be so bad for the Warriors | The San Francisco Standard

As it stands now, the Warriors are sitting in the 13th slot in next June’s draft but with a real shot to end up in the top 10. The team in the No. 9 slot before the lottery has a 4.5% chance to win the No. 1 pick (and potential superstar Cooper Flagg), a 4.8% shot at No. 2, a 5.2% chance at No. 3 and 5.7% at No. 4. That’s 20.2% to get one of those four picks — in a draft that seems to offer a chance at a star at least through the fifth or sixth selection.

If the Warriors end up in the eighth slot going into the lottery, they’d have a better than 25% chance at one of the top-four picks and a 6% at No. 1. And the higher the pick ends up, the more value it’ll have on the trade market.

Warriors remember Dejan Milojević on the anniversary of his death one year ago

NBA News:

How the Thunder defense — ‘guys that do the little work’ — continues to overwhelm | The Athletic

With the Oklahoma City Thunder reaching the halfway point of one of the great regular seasons in NBA history, it’s only natural that they compare themselves to majestic creatures.

“The world is seeing all of the, what we call the cockroaches in our locker room, the cockroaches and hyenas,” said Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was masterful in gliding his way to 40 points in three quarters of Thursday’s 134-114 statement win against the Cleveland Cavaliers. “The guys that do the little work, that don’t get the most plays, that don’t average 30, but their part of our season, our winning, is just as big.

“I’m glad people got to see that, that we’re not just one or two guys; we’re 15 guys.”

Inside the simmering feud between Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat — and why it’s about to boil | ESPN

While Heat sources say they expect Butler to return Friday against the Nuggets and are fully prepared for him to play, there remains a palpable dread at what he might do and the environment the ongoing chaos might create. “I don’t know how he can come back to this locker room,” one source close to the team said. Another said, “We don’t want him back.”

If history — like, say, in Minnesota in 2018 — serves as precedent, the discomfort could deepen, quickly.

“Jimmy hasn’t even really started,” one source close to Butler said.

76ers’ Joel Embiid out 7-10 days with left knee swelling

In case you missed it at Golden State of Mind:

NBA L2M: Warriors vs. Timberwolves

In all, the league found 15 instances to review in those two minutes, but deemed all such instances correct calls or correct non-calls. The final timeout, which was initially granted at 0.8 seconds (though the clock expired before things were sorted out), was explained as “Golden State signals for and is awarded a timeout prior to the expiration of the game clock. After communicating with the Replay Center, the game clock is reset to 00:01.0.”

Always good to avoid controversy ... especially when you win.

A tweet to end the week:

Follow @unstoppablebaby on Twitter for all the latest news on the Golden State Warriors.