NBA All-Star weekend is right around the corner and now is the time for fans to vote on who they want to see the most in the game. In the first returns, the top NBA stars (LeBron James and Stephen Curry) ranked third in their respective categories. In the second fan vote, the stars move up in their positions… but still not enough to surpass Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The All-Star voting ends on January 20th, less than a month from the game itself (February 16th). There will be just one more fan voting return before the fan polls close, after which the votes from the NBA media and players will be added to fill out the remaining 50% of the ballot. As usual, the reserves will be selected by NBA head coaches who will fill out the rest of the roster.
While it can be easy to predict the current season’s voting results, the fan voice can still reveal some interesting trends and changes in the modern NBA. Between the West and East, you can tell that times are changing with how many young and fresh faces are a the top of the ballot.
Western Conference
Not much has changed in the West since the first voting results. Nikola Jokic has widened the gap between him and Kevin Durant, who is the second-leading vote-getter in the West so far. LeBron James remains firmly in third place in the frontcourt, but he’s within 2,000 votes of Kevin Durant and has a chance to surpass him before the final count.
With the game set in San Francisco, it’s no surprise that Stephen Curry rose to second place in the polls, just underneath the Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is a leading candidate for MVP this season. If the Warriors fans rally over the next 10 days, it might be enough for Curry to edge out Shai as the leading guard in the West. For now, it’s Jokic and SGA who are out in front and the placings are well-deserved.
Eastern Conference
Giannis Antetokounmpo is stacking up the votes. After earning 1.7 million votes in the first fan returns, he’s up to 2.7 million in the latest results and he’s got a comfortable place at the top with a lead of over 300,000 votes so far. Another noticeable trend is the rise of Evan Mobley, who is up to 8th in the polls after some viral comments by Darius Garland.
In the backcourt, LaMelo Ball is somehow holding his lead over Donovan Mitchell but his play this season coupled with the popularity of his brother’s viral track, ‘Tweaker’ seems to have won over a lot of fans. Nothing major changed in the East but it’ll be interesting to see where Jimmy Butler finishes given his current situation with the Miami Heat.
In 2025, the NBA is in an interesting place. With the ratings down and fans complaining about the product of the game, there’s also a shift in the NBA meta as guys like James Harden, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and Stephen Curry take a back seat to the younger generation of superstars.
Of course, with Jokic and Giannis having the most votes overall, it also says something about the quality of international basketball and how far the game has come regarding the rise of foreign talent.
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