{"id":115805,"date":"2025-01-03T11:02:58","date_gmt":"2025-01-03T16:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=115805"},"modified":"2025-01-03T11:02:58","modified_gmt":"2025-01-03T16:02:58","slug":"nba-all-star-first-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/03\/nba-all-star-first-returns\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA All-Star First Returns Show Winning Doesn&#8217;t Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The first round of fan voting for the NBA All-Star game has been released, and there are already snubs and people not deserving a spot. There will always be more deserving players than there are spots on the team. Yet, sometimes, fans can miss it completely. Let\u2019s take a look at the NBA All-Star first returns.<\/p>\n<h2>NBA All-Star First Returns Show Winning Doesn&#8217;t Matter<\/h2>\n<p>We always hear experts, coaches, players, and everyone else that winning matters and that the All-Star game should reward it. But if we look at the first returns for the NBA All-Stars, they tell a completely different story.<\/p>\n<p>The only aspect that fans got right is the Eastern Conference Frontcourt, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tatumja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jayson Tatum<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/antetgi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/townska01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a> leading the way. Yet, even there, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mobleev01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Evan Mobley<\/a> is 10th in votes, with players like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/embiijo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joel Embiid<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/georgpa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paul George<\/a> getting more votes than the young Cavs\u2019 center.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\ud83d\udea8 The first returns of fan voting for the 2025 NBA All-Star Game are in \ud83d\udea8 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ovk3lQGjog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/ovk3lQGjog<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheDunkCentral\/status\/1874878518682902936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 2, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Is LaMelo Ball the Best Guard in the East?<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/ballla01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LaMelo Ball<\/a>, playing for the second-worst team in the Eastern Conference, leads all East guards by more than 200,000 votes. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mitchdo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Donovan Mitchell<\/a>, playing for the first-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, is second on that list. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/garlada01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Darius Garland<\/a>, Mitchell\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/03\/darius-garland-snubbed-first-all-star-voting\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">running mate<\/a> in the backcourt, is not in the top 10. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brunsja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Brunson<\/a>, playing for the third-seed Knicks, hasn\u2019t amassed more than 500,000 <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/03\/jalen-brunsons-lack-of-nba-all-star-votes-is-baffling\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">votes<\/a>. His running mate, Kat, has over a million votes for the frontcourt spot.<\/p>\n<p>Looking at the guards, there are more abnormalities further down the list. For example, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/poolejo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jordan Poole<\/a> has more votes than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/herroty01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyler Herro<\/a>. The former is playing for the second-worst team in the league, while the latter leads the sixth-seed Heat in scoring and assists.<\/p>\n<h3>Legacy Votes for Western Frontcourt<\/h3>\n<p>While the Eastern Conference frontcourt looks set with the top three picks, the Western is another story. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jokicni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Jokic<\/a> leads all Western frontcourt players, but he is followed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/duranke01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin Durant<\/a>, two players who are mostly getting legacy votes at this point in their careers. The Oklahoma City Thunder don&#8217;t have a top-five player in the frontcourt, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willija06.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Williams<\/a> at sixth, and he is having a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/26\/jalen-williams-could-claim-2-awards-for-thunder\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">great year<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, of the top three teams in the West, only one player, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gilgesh01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> has a starting spot so far. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/moranja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ja Morant<\/a>, playing for the second-seed Grizzlies, is seventh on the guards&#8217; list, while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jacksja02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaren Jackson Jr<\/a>. is No.10 on the frontcourt list. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sengual01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alperen Senguin<\/a>, playing for the third-seed Rockets, is sixth on the frontcourt list. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/08\/ja-morant-fans-dunking\/\" target=\"_self\">Morant<\/a> would be a breath of fresh air in the All-Star game, but his chances to make it depend on the coaches.<\/p>\n<h3>How Much Does Fan Voting Matter?<\/h3>\n<p>Fan voting is just one part of the votes for the NBA All-Star game. Fan voting updates will be shared on the first three Thursdays in January: 2nd, 9th, and 16th. We got the first NBA All-Star returns, and from there, we can see how things unfold.<\/p>\n<p>Fan voting accounts for 50% of the votes to decide All-Star starters. Then, NBA players decide for 25%, and a media panel accounts for the remaining 25%. Coaches select the reserves for the All-Star game.\u00a0This Friday, the NBA has a 3-for-1 Day, which means that each fan vote will count three times.\u00a0Judging by the NBA All-Star first returns, there will be plenty of snubs this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first round of fan voting for the NBA All-Star game has been released, and there are already snubs and people not deserving a spot. There will always be more deserving players than there are spots on the team. Yet, sometimes, fans can miss it completely. Let\u2019s take a look at the NBA All-Star first [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5291,"featured_media":115837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,7,9,20,31,26,32,16,62,12,22],"tags":[4293,1937,900,3966,306,1822,1417,4609,1948,798,267,213,69,823,38,72,50,1489],"class_list":["post-115805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-hornets","category-cavaliers","category-nuggets","category-rockets","category-lakers","category-grizzlies","category-heat","category-nba","category-knicks","category-thunder","tag-alperen-sengun","tag-darius-garland","tag-donovan-mitchell","tag-evan-mobley","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-ja-morant","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-jalen-williams","tag-jaren-jackson-jr","tag-jayson-tatum","tag-joel-embiid","tag-karl-anthony-towns","tag-kevin-durant","tag-lamelo-ball","tag-lebron-james","tag-nikola-jokic","tag-paul-george","tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115805"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115838,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115805\/revisions\/115838"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}