Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jaylen Brown, Jalen Brunson, Cade Cunningham and Tyrese Maxey have been named All-Star starters from the Eastern Conference. Stephen Curry, Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic and Victor Wembanyama gained All-Star starter status from the Western Conference, according to NBA Communications (Twitter links).
This season’s All-Star Game will have a U.S. vs. World format. The round-robin event is scheduled to be played Sunday, Feb. 15 at 5 p.m. ET at the Clippers’ Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. Two teams of U.S. players and one team of international players (the World team) will compete in a tournament featuring four 12-minute games. The three teams will each have a minimum of eight players.
How the teams will be divvied up is yet to be determined.
Antetokounmpo has been selected as a starter for the 10th consecutive season. Brown will be making his fifth All-Star appearance, while Brunson will be making his third consecutive appearance.
This marks Cunningham’s second NBA All-Star selection and first as a starter. Cunningham is the first Pistons player to be named an Eastern Conference starter in the All-Star Game since Allen Iverson in 2009. It will also be Maxey’s second All-Star appearance and first as a starter.
This will be Curry’s 12th All-Star Game and 11th as a starter. Doncic will be making his sixth All-Star appearance.
This marks the fourth career All-Star appearance for Gilgeous-Alexander and his third consecutive season as an All-Star starter. Jokic has been named an All-Star for the eighth consecutive year. Wembanyama is the first Spurs player to be named an All-Star starter since Kawhi Leonard in 2017.
Fans accounted for 50% of the vote to determine the starters, while players and media accounted for 25% each. Wembanyama won a tiebreaker with the Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards for a starting spot. Full results can be found through this NBA.com link.
No Antman?
Popularity contest
Strange justifications. Last year an analyst indicated that LaMelo couldn’t be in the All-Star game because he was on a losing team and had been injured. This year Giannis is on a losing team and has also missed games due to injury. What a coincidence
Win couple mvps and a title, then you have an argument
Ant should be a Starter!!
The ten “starters”: 5 from the US, 5 international. Does that mean the fourteen “reserves” have to be 3 international, 11 US in order to get one team of 8 international players and two teams of 8 Americans? Or does the “at least eight” mean the international team will have extra players? Or do they fudge it and move some guys over?
Actually it probably works out, most of the rest of the deserving players are Americans. Maybe Avdija, Sengun and Murray fill out the international team… probably missing someone