It’s reasonable to think Chet Holmgren will be an NBA All-Star one day. He was a highly recruited high school player whose one year at Gonzaga was stellar enough for Oklahoma City to make him the No. 2 pick in last year’s draft. He’s an obvious talent, an enormous talent.

And it’s terrible that Holmgren got hurt last summer and will miss the entirety of this season. But evidently, his rehab has been going extremely well – since four NBA players say he should start next month’s All-Star Game.

That’s right. When NBA players were asked in recent weeks who should start their All-Star Game in Salt Lake City on Feb. 19, four of them said that Holmgren should, even though he has yet to make his NBA debut.

So, congratulations to everyone involved. It’s a new record: 330 different NBA players got a vote – either from themselves or their peers – saying they should be an All-Star starter. That’s 20 more than the number of players who got votes in 2021.

Keep in mind only 10 people will start the All-Star Game. There might be, at the most, 20 legitimate candidates for those starting nods. OK, let’s say it’s 30 players, even. That’s 300 less than the number of people who received votes.

That means a ton of votes were wasted, unserious, a joke.

This all started seven years ago, after almost 800,000 people stuffed the ballot boxes and nearly made Zaza Pachulia an All-Star starter. So the NBA changed the rules, going to a weighted formula – 50% is determined by fan votes, 25% by media votes, 25% by player votes.

The fans pretty much got who they wanted, as should always be the case. LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic and Jayson Tatum were the top seven fan vote-getters; they all were announced as starters when the list was revealed Thursday night. So did No. 9 Kyrie Irving, No. 10 Donovan Mitchell and No. 12 Zion Williamson.

No. 8 Joel Embiid didn’t make the cut, nor did No. 11 Anthony Davis.

Player votes were a big reason why Davis wasn’t a starter. Only 30 players voted for Davis among Western Conference frontcourt players, while 80 voted for Williamson. That made the difference.

But many of the 375 ballots returned by players were puzzling. Chicago’s Lonzo Ball got four votes. Miami’s Omer Yurtseven got three votes. Jae Crowder, who is still a member of the Phoenix Suns in name only, got two votes. Denver’s Collin Gillespie and Portland’s Ibou Badji each got one vote.

Here’s what they all have in common: Like Holmgren, none has played this season.

There were other interesting — a polite way of saying odd, in this case — trends within the data. Only Jokic (58.7%), Antetokounmpo (58.7%) and James (51.5%) appeared on more than half of the All-Star ballots cast by NBA players this year.

The Phoenix Suns were hoping that guard Devin Booker would get consideration as a starter. He wasn’t close, probably in large part because he’s missed some time this season with injury.

“We know and the league knows and the players know,” Phoenix Coach Monty Williams said. “He’s the best (shooting) guard in the game and one of the best players in the game.”

Perhaps the players don’t know: Only 8.5% said Booker should be a starter.

Milwaukee’s Grayson Allen got four votes, which is one more than reigning NBA defensive player of the year Marcus Smart of Boston received. Yes, Allen has been a contributor to what the Bucks have done so far this year. He’s had his moments. He’s hit big shots. But it’s not a fine line between solid player and All-Star starter — it’s more like a crater.

There certainly could be a year where the irresponsible voting really costs somebody a spot. It won’t be this year. Certainly, arguments could be made for other players – Embiid, Domantas Sabonis, Ja Morant, Lauri Markkanen, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – as candidates to start.

They’ll all probably be All-Stars anyway. But hopefully, there will soon come a time when the players take the voting more seriously. If not, maybe the NBA needs to consider taking their vote away.

MAVERICKS: Dallas star Luka Doncic will miss a game at Utah on Saturday after spraining his left ankle against Phoenix in the opener of a two-game trip.

Doncic’s absence leaves the Mavericks without their top two scorers. Christian Wood is recovering from a broken left thumb.

The Mavericks went on to a 99-95 victory over the Suns on Thursday despite Doncic going out early in the first quarter. Spencer Dinwiddie scored a season-high 36 points. Doncic was trying to make a move close to the basket against Phoenix’s Cam Johnson, but stepped on Mikal Bridges’ foot before passing the ball and limping away.

It will be the first time the 6-foot-7 guard has been sidelined by an injury this season.

FINES: The NBA fined Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid $25,000 apiece for actions on the court.

Curry was penalized for throwing his mouthpiece into the crowd late in Golden State’s 122-120 home victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night. The All-Star guard was given a technical foul and ejected.

Embiid’s fine was for an obscene gesture midway through the third quarter of Philadelphia’s home victory over Brooklyn on Wednesday night.

FRIDAY’S GAMES

BUCKS 141, PACERS 131: Giannis Antetokounmpo had 41 points, 12 rebounds and six assists and Milwaukee fended off Indiana’s second-half rally to beat the Pacers in Indianapolis.

Jrue Holiday added 23 points and nine assists for Milwaukee. The Central Division-leading Bucks won their third straight, this one coming in front of a surprisingly friendly road crowd.

Myles Turner led the struggling Pacers with 24 points. Buddy Hield added 22 as Indiana lost for the ninth time in 10 games – after nearly overcoming a 33-point first-half deficit.

The Pacers have won an NBA-leading 11 times after trailing by double digits this season – twice after trailing by 20 or more points. But this time, the Pacers couldn’t quite dig themselves out of the deep, early hole only getting as close as seven in the waning minutes.

Milwaukee looked as if it would run away quickly when its ninth 3 of the game helped cap a 15-3 run to close the first quarter with a 45-30 lead. The charge continued through the second quarter as the margin expanded to 43 at 85-42 in the final minute of the half.

But Indiana finally answered in the third quarter, trimming it to 114-99 and then methodically got closer in the fourth while repeatedly sending Antetounkoumpo to the free-throw line. They took advantage of his misses by getting to 131-124 with 3:27 to play but couldn’t get any closer.

TIMBERWOLVES 111, GRIZZLIES 100: Anthony Edwards scored 13 of his 25 points in the third quarter as Minnesota extended its lead, D’Angelo Russell added 19 points and the Timberwolves topped short-handed Memphis in Minneapolis.

The Grizzlies took the court minutes after video footage was released of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols being beaten by Memphis police officers.

There was a moment of silence prior to the game but no demonstration by the Grizzlies or Timberwolves. Both teams offered thoughts to Nichols’ family and friends in messages tweeted before the video was released.

Speaking pregame, Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins wasn’t sure if the team would watch the footage together or on their own.

“This was a senseless act that should never have happened,” Jenkins said. “Being away from Memphis this past couple of days has been really hard to grasp what’s going on in our city, talking to people, talking to leaders there, talking to our own team, talking to our families.”

“But, obviously, we have a basketball game to play tonight, but there’s so much more we’re focused on, getting back home and being there to be a beacon of hope for our city as it grieves and mourns,” he said.

Kyle Anderson had 23 points for Minnesota, which has won four of five. Nathan Knight added 10 points off the bench.

THUNDERS 112, CAVALIERS 100: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points, his fourth consecutive with at least 30, and Oklahoma City won at home.

Gilgeous-Alexander made 12 of 21 shots and added eight assists and five rebounds. Jalen Williams added 17 points and made all three of his 3-point attempts.

Darius Garland had 31 points and 13 assists for Cleveland, which played again without All-Star Donovan Mitchell because of a groin injury.

The Thunder won for the sixth time in eight games as they content for a Western Conference play-in berth, while the Cavaliers finished their three-game road swing at 30-21.

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