Giannis Antetokounmpo tops all players in first NBA all-star fan balloting results

Posted by Admin January 2, 2025 NBA

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It’s a new year but some things remain the same, such as Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo being a fan favorite for the NBA all-star game.

The league released its first round of voting results for the Feb. 16 game in San Francisco and Antetokounmpo is the No. 1 vote-getter of any NBA player with over 1.7 million fan votes.

The 30-year-old Antetokounmpo was the top vote-getter last year for fans (5.4 million), and the fan vote counts for 50% of total votes for starters. Current players and media votes count for 25% apiece.

Antetokounmpo has made eight consecutive all-star games, which is a Bucks franchise record, and was the 2021 game’s MVP.Antetokounmpo’s MVP foil, Denver’s Nikola Jokić, is the next-closest player with 1.4 million votes.

The all-star game format has changed this season, as the all-stars will be broken up into three teams. They, along with a team comprised of Rising Stars, will compete in a mini-tournament to win the weekend.

Buck point guard Damian Lillard is the reigning all-star game MVP after being voted in as a starter last season alongside Antetokounmpo.

Lillard is currently third among Eastern Conference guards with just over 700,00 votes. He trails Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball (about 950,000) and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell (just over 718,000).

Lillard is also the reigning three-point contest champion.

Participants in the skills competitions are typically announced in early February, but Lillard has a spot if he wants it – and the Oakland native will no doubt be on hand in the Bay Area.

Bucks forward Bobby Portis Jr. has already started a campaign to get guard AJ Green into the three-point contest field. Last year, Malik Beasley got into the competition to represent the Bucks. Milwaukee has not had a dunk contest participant since Pat Connaughton in 2020.