Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic among the first leading vote-getters in the All-Star NBA League
Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo is the early leader in fan voting for the NBA All-Star Game, and LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers looks well on his way to extending his record and being selected for the 21st time.
The first All-Star voting update for this season’s revised game was released Thursday, and Antetokounmpo was the overall leader with about 1.7 million votes. Denver’s Nikola Jokic is second overall with about 1.4 million votes, tops among all players in the Western Conference.
10 players on pace to be selected as starters, at least by fan vote: Antetokounmpo, Boston Jayson TatumNew York’s Karl-Anthony TownsCharlotte’s LaMelo Ball and Cleveland Donovan Mitchell from the Eastern Conference, and Jokic, Phoenix Kevin DurantOklahoma City Shai Gilgeous-AlexanderDallas’ Luka Dončić and James of the West.
But this year, there won’t be 10 starters for the All-Star Game, which will be held on Feb. 16 in San Francisco. There will be more.
That’s it the first year of the new All-Star formatone where there will be three games. The 24 All-Stars will be drafted into three eight-man teams by TNT personalities and former NBA greats Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith.
Those three teams will be entered into a four-team tournament, with the remaining team being the team of NBA rookies and second-year players who win the Rising Stars Tournament on All-Star Friday. There are two semifinal games, followed by a winner-takes-all championship game — with the first team to reach 40 points winning all three games.
It will be completely different than last year, when the final score of the All-Star game was 211-186 — the largest score in history.
Voting continues until January 20.
Fan voting makes up 50% of the All-Star starter selection formula, with media voting accounting for another 25% and voting from current NBA players accounting for the remaining 25%.
The 10 players designated as starters — although there will technically be at least 15 All-Star “game” starters — will be announced on January 23, and the reserves selected by NBA head coaches will be announced on January 30.
Associated Press reports.
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Giannis Antetokounmpo
LeBron James
Nikola Jokic
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2025-01-02 20:15:00
