Early this morning, January 5, Vietnam time, the NBA announced the results of the first round of All-Star 2024 votes from fans (fanvotes). The two leading names are still the familiar superstar duo who have recently captained the NBA All-Star Game.
Together with more than 2 million votes, bigman Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks and future legend LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers are leading the East and West respectively.
“Demigod” has 2,171,812 votes from fans, while “King James” has 2,008,645 votes according to the first round results.
In the last 6 years, the NBA has changed the format of the annual All-Star match. They abandoned the representative lineups of the East and West regions, instead relying on a voting system to choose two captains.
According to this format, the captain will alternately select teammates in the Draft format, creating a squad with stars mixed from both regions. Over the past 6 years, LeBron James has been the captain on one side, facing Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo on the other side.
In 2024, the tournament decided to return to the traditional format when the Eastern All-Star team will face the Western All-Star team.
The players in each squad will be voted through a voting system with 50% votes from fans, 25% from the media and 25% from all players playing in the NBA this season.
Below are the results of the first round of fan voting for NBA All-Star 2024:
There were not many surprises in the first vote in the East, especially the frontcourt group when reigning MPV Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jayson Tatum led the way.
Record holder for assists Tyrese Haliburton is at the head of the defenders group and right behind him is Damian Lillard. Following closely in third place is Trae Young, star PG of the Atlanta Hawks.
A similar story took place in the West with familiar names. Kevin Durant and reigning Finals MVP Nikola Jokic and LeBron James lead the frontcourt group.
While Luka Doncic and Stephen Curry create a big gap with their competitors in the backcourt group. Although Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is having an extremely sublime season, he is still “forgotten” due to not having a large number of fans.
According to the plan, fans will vote from December 20, 2023 to January 21, 2024. The All-Star Game starting lineup will be announced on January 26 and the full lineup will be revealed about a week later.
The 2024 NBA All-Star event series will take place from February 17 to February 19 in Indianapolis, home of the Indiana Pacers Club. This is the first time in nearly 40 years that this city has hosted an All-Star event (the last time was in 1985).
The NBA’s annual festival will end with the 73rd All-Star match in history, taking place at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, February 19, Vietnam time.
