NBA Swing: First Fan Returns for 2024 All-Star Voting Released

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With the new year passing, the NBA is marching towards 2024 All-Star weekend and the second half of the season. On Thursday, the NBA would release their first set of fan returns after opening voting on December 19th. The second return will be announced on January 11th and the third on January 18th, before the All-Star starters and reserves are announced on January 25th and February 1st, respectively.

LeBron James leads the Western Conference with just over 2 million votes, while Giannis Antetokounmpo leads all players with 2.1 million votes. If All-Star fan voting ended today, the starters would be:

Western Conference

LeBron James (LAL)
Kevin Durant (PHX)
Nikola Jokic (DEN)
Luka Dončić (DAL)
Stephen Curry (GSW)

Eastern Conference

Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL)
Joel Embiid (PHI)
Jayson Tatum (BOS)
Tyrese Haliburton (IND)
Damian Lillard (MIL)

These 10 players will likely be the starters announced on January 25th. Looking and the next highest vote-getters for the Western Conference, Anthony Davis is nearly 700,000 votes behind third place vote getter Nikola Jokic in the front court and Shai Gilgeous Alexander is over 400,000 votes behind third place vote getter Steph Curry for the guards. In the Eastern Conference, fourth-place vote-getter Jimmy Butler is just under a million votes behind third place vote getter Jayson Tatum in the front court and fourth place vote getter Trae Young is around 70,000 votes behind third-place vote getting Damian Lillard for the guards.

Looking at the remaining top vote-getters for each conference and position, there are a few surprises. In the West, Alperen Şengun ranks in the top 10 in front-court vote-getters with rookie big men Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama. All three looking for their first All-Star nod. For the guards, the biggest surprise is Lakers guard Austin Reaves sitting with the 10th most votes. In the East front court, Mikal Bridges (BKN), Kyle Kuzma (WAS), and Paolo Banchero (ORL) are all in contention for the first All-Star nod. For the East guards, Tyrese Maxey (PHI) is fifth in votes with sixth place Jalen Brunson over 100,000 votes behind him.

The biggest surprise of the first fan vote returns is five Celtics being top 10 in votes. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porziņgis, Derrick White, and Jrue Holiday are all in the top 10 in votes. While they won’t all make it as starters, there is a possibility three, four, or all five of them could be All-Stars after the reserves are announced. If four Celtics make the team, this would be the first time a team had four All-Stars since the 2017-18 Golden State Warriors. If all five were to become All-Stars, this would be the first time a single team had five All-Stars.