In Brief : Ballot Box Stuffed for Sonics’ Ellis
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SEATTLE — Employees of the Seattle SuperSonics stuffed as many as 60,000 ballots for guard Dale Ellis in an effort to win a spot for him in the NBA All-Star game, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
The extra ballots helped Ellis take a 30,448-vote lead as of last Thursday over Portland’s Clyde Drexler for the No. 2 position among Western Conference guards, the Seattle Times reported.
Whoever wins the spot will share the back court with Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers in the Feb. 12 All-Star game.
Previously, Ellis had trailed Drexler for the entire season.
After the Sonics beat the Trail Blazers 103-100 Tuesday night, Drexler denounced the balloting tactic.
No NBA rule says teams cannot use employees to vote. NBA spokesman Brian McIntyre said Ellis was unlikely to lose his starting position for the game, and the Sonics probably would not be penalized.
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