Not long after the Christmas showdown ended, the selection for the 2019 All-Star also began.
That year, because of LGBT issues, the Charlotte All-Star Weekend was forced to cancel, and this year the league found an opportunity to make up for it.
For the Kings, besides Hansen, the candidates on the list were still Mitchell and Tatum.
The Kings officially canvassed votes for the three players.
Of course, realistically it was Mitchell and Tatum; as for Hansen, if he doesn’t become the vote king, it’s like he didn’t score 40 points this season. Binding them together is just bundled promotion.
During this time, Hansen noticed Mitchell seemed to have some heavy thoughts.
"What, worried you won’t make it to the All-Star?" Hansen appreciated Mitchell, so when finding a chance, he showed concern.
But contrary to his expectation, Mitchell shook his head: "I know I’m not qualified for that, I’m conflicted about whether to continue to participate in the dunk contest."
The last time Mitchell participated in the dunk contest was last year, at the Cleveland All-Star Game.
At that time, Hansen was one of the judges for the dunk contest, and the final champion was Aaron Gordon.
Mitchell performed well in the preliminaries, scoring 48 points with his first dunk, but unfortunately, he ran into Gordon and Jones, ultimately missing the finals.
This year, it’s likely the dream-fulfilling Gordon will not participate, but Jones should continue to compete.
"Do you want to participate?" Hansen asked with a smile.
Mitchell nodded, he still loved dunking.
But he quickly opened up: "But I’m worried it will be the same as last time."
Mitchell is very competitive; although it’s an entertainment event, always playing the supporting role is hard for him to accept.
"If you want, go for it." Hansen remained simple and direct.
Seeing Mitchell’s continued doubt, Hansen added: "I’ll be your assistant."
Mitchell was stunned when he heard this, looking at Hansen thinking he heard wrong.
With Hansen’s current status, having him as an assistant is like coming with background music, with full impact scores.
"Of course, if you don’t use an assistant, I can only cheer for you from the sidelines."
"No, I’m going!" Mitchell’s eyes immediately turned firm.
Having Hansen as his assistant, having this experience is more meaningful than winning the championship.
"I have high hopes for you~" Hansen said while patting Mitchell’s shoulder with a smile.
Mitchell also got part of Jokic’s experience card.
However, for Hansen, he has been a contestant and judge in the dunk contest, but never an assistant, which is also an interesting experience for him.
When the clock ticked past the last second of 2018, with the ringing of the New Year bell, time subsequently came to 2019.
After entering the New Year, the Kings also started to improve.
They secured a season-long six-game winning streak after January started, successfully overtaking the Rockets for the third spot in the West.
The last time the Kings reached this position was in the early 2000s when the Princeton Kings under Adelman swept through the league, a bona fide championship-contending team. Thıs text ıs hosted at 𝗻𝗼𝘷𝗲𝗹•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝕟𝕖𝕥
In Hansen’s first year with the Kings, he led a group of rookies to such a level, and his own average of 40 points per game felt incredibly shocking.
Some fans marveled at "what if Jordan performed in the small-ball era," getting a tangible reflection, but most fans believed even Jordan couldn’t achieve this, only Hansen could.
Yet Hansen remained the same Hansen as always, steady and unwavering like a machine from the season start until now.
The primary reason for the Kings’ winning streak was Tatum’s stable performance.
During this six-game streak, Tatum averaged 20 points, with shooting and three-point percentages reaching 49% and 41%, respectively.
Or to put it more straightforwardly, if the Kings needed 100 points to win, Hansen contributed 60, and the others added together contributed 38.
Then Tatum’s past steadiness changed that number from 38 to 40, putting the Kings into winning mode.
Of course, this was partly due to the Kings’ schedule, having faced the Knight, the Bucks, and then the Pelicans and Warriors, the tough schedule was over, leading to easier times now.
With such a backdrop, the first round results for the NBA All-Star Game were released.
In the West’s frontcourt voting, Tatum unexpectedly received 700,000 votes, surpassing Anthony Davis, George, and Green, among a host of All-Stars, ranking third behind Hansen and James.
Although it was just the first round of voting, it allowed Tatum to truly feel the benefits of playing alongside Hansen.
Whenever he showed a bit of good performance, he received exponentially more attention than others.
So, Hansen himself was the biggest stage, surpassing the usefulness of any big city or prestigious team.
Time flashed to the end of January, and the final results for the All-Star selection were announced.
Besides Hansen confidently being voted the king with 6.2 million votes, the rest were full of surprises.
In the East’s backcourt, the second-ranked was the veteran Wade, who received 3.6 million votes.
In the West’s backcourt, the second-ranked coincidentally was veteran Rose, who also received 3.3 million votes.