That's a rabbit hole I'm sure they do not want to get into, especially with the focus on globalization of the game. Besides, like 4 of the top ten players in the game now are from overseas (Giannis/Jokic/Embiid/Luka). The expansion of the game to other countries has been vital to its success. No reason to alienate that.
I can understand that, but is it really "alienating" them by giving them slightly less power compared to those of the country that the game started in, is based in, has all but 1 team from, and the vast majority of their players are born in?
That kind of move would say, "This is our league, not yours." That's the opposite of the message the league wants to send--they want Italy or Spain or any other nation to consider the NBA "their league" too.
Orrrrrrr take our fan vote entirely because it’s fucking stupid and then have an All Fan team at the end of the year.
I wonder if the football leagues in Europe opened up fan online voting, if Americans (who don't have a team) would get equal say?