Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic are among the first NBA All-Star vote-getters

Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo is the early leader in fan voting for the NBA All-Star Game, and the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James appears on track to extend his record and be selected for the 21st time.

The first update to All-Star voting for this season’s revised game was released Thursday, with Antetokounmpo leading the overall standings with nearly 1.7 million votes. Denver’s Nikola Jokic is second overall with nearly 1.4 million votes, the highest among all Western Conference players.

The 10 superstars who will be named starters, at least based on fan votes: Antetokounmpo, Boston’s Jayson Tatum, New York’s Karl-Anthony Towns, Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell of the Eastern Conference, and Jokic and Phoenix’s Kevin Durant. , Shai Gilgeous-Alexander from Oklahoma City, Luka Doncic from Dallas and James from the West.

But this year’s 10 starters will not be in attendance for the All-Star Game, which is scheduled for Feb. 16 in San Francisco. There will be more.

It’s the first year of the new All-Star system, where there will be three games. The 24 stars will be divided into three teams of eight players each by TNT personalities and former NBA greats Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith.

These three teams will be entered into a four-team tournament, with the remaining team being the NBA’s rookies and second-year players who win the Rising Stars event on All-Star Friday. There are two semi-final games, followed by a winners-takes-all championship game – where the first team to reach 40 points is the winner of all three games.

It will be very different from last year, when the final score of the All-Star Game was 211-186, the highest score in history.

Voting continues until January 20.

Fan voting makes up 50% of the All-Star rookie selection equation, while media voting represents another 25%, and current NBA player voting represents the remaining 25%.

The 10 players designated as starters — although technically there will be at least 15 starters for the All-Star “games” — will be announced on January 23, and the reserves who will be selected by NBA coaches will be announced at January. 30.

Associated Press report.

[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]

---

---