Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic lead the East and West, respectively, in All-Star fan voting after the first returns were tallied.
Antetokounmpo leads all vote getters with 1,710,630 votes, and would currently be voted as a frontcourt starter alongside Boston Celtics wing Jayson Tatum and New York Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns. LaMelo Ball and Donovan Mitchell are the leading vote getters at the guard position in the East.
Joining Jokic as frontcourt starters currently are Phoenix’s Kevin Durant and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James. The leaders at the guard position are Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dallas’ Luka Doncic.
It remains to be seen if Doncic will be available for All-Star festivities as a result of the calf injury he suffered on Christmas Day.
Fans account for 50 percent of the voting for starters, followed by 25 percent for player voting, and another 25 percent for select media members.
More Than 10 Starters
With the new All-Star format of four teams playing in a mini-tournament, it is a bit confusing to think of who the starters will be.
While there will be 10 guaranteed starters based on fan, media and player voting, there will be an additional five starters as a result of the third All-Star team. The fourth team in the mini-tournament is the winner of the Rising Stars (Rookie-Sophomore) Game.
Three teams will be comprised of eight players and each game will have a target score of 40 points.
Shifting Faces Of The League
While Antetokounmpo is long familiar with leading the East in fan voting, this would be Jokic’s first year at the top of the West mountain.
It could be the end of an era. This is the first time since 2016 (Kobe Bryant’s final All-Star Game) that James is not leading the fan vote for his conference. From 2017-2023, James led the entire league in fan voting.
While that run could be coming to an end, it would still be a remarkable, record-extending 21st All-Star Game selection for the 40-year-old.
Tyrese Haliburton was phenomenal in the first half of last season and ended up leading the East guard voting along with Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard. Ball and Mitchell taking the top spots — at least for now — shows the East doesn’t have the guard dominance that Gilgeous-Alexander and Doncic are establishing in the West.
Stephen Curry is roughly 60,000 votes behind Doncic, while Lillard is about 14,000 votes behind Mitchell.
Of note, San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama earned over 900,000 votes, placing him fifth in the West frontcourt.
Voting Continues
Jan. 3 is considered a “3-for-1 Day” as fan votes will be worth triple.
The second returns on fan voting will be announced in a week on Jan. 9.
