Prime Dillinger would have deserved it, though.
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel veteran forward Jared Dillinger rarely ever plays anymore.
But, if the voting trend for the 2024 PBA All-Star Game holds true, he is just one massive push away from being an All-Star. That’s because he is currently 27th in the fan voting—or only three spots from making it to the top 24 who will be All-Stars outright due to the fans’ clamor.
Weird, right?
Well, that’s the perks of playing for the crowd darlings. And it is something Nards Pinto found out firsthand last season when he was among the 24 players voted in by the fans to play in the All-Star Game in Iloilo, along with seven other Ginebra teammates in top vote-getters Japeth Aguilar and Scottie Thompson, Jamie Malonzo, Christian Standhardinger, LA Tenorio, Stanley Pringle, and Jeremiah Gray.
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That being said, it isn’t beyond the realm of possibility that Ginebra fans would band together to actually push Dillinger all the way to the top 24 to make him an All-Star—albeit one who rarely sees floor time.
And it appears The Daredevil isn’t having none of it, taking to X (formerly Twitter) to make an appeal to his legions of ka-barangays. The gist of it is to stop voting for him because he is undeserving.
“The lovely fans have me ranked #27 on all-star voting for this year,” he wrote on X. “You guys! It’s all love, but stop voting for me. I don’t deserve to be there, let’s be real now.”
While thankful for the love he keeps on getting from Ginebra fans, he also pointed out—rather correctly and astutely—that other players deserve those votes instead of him.
“Eternally grateful for the love, but others are far more deserving,” he added.
Dillinger certainly has a point, and it takes the bigger man so to speak to openly admit it. Then again, The Daredevil has always been known to be a straight shooter, which makes this brutal honesty not surprising but certainly refreshing.
The old Dillinger, though, would have probably been a shoo-in for this showcase of stars, especially if he were playing for Ginebra.