The NBA revealed the 2025 All-Star Game starters on Thursday during Inside the NBA’s pregame show, and subsequently announced by the NBA (Twitter links).
In the Eastern Conference, a pair of Knicks bolstered the starting lineup, with Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns earning nods. In Towns’ first season in New York, he secured a starting spot. Joining Brunson in the backcourt is Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell while Celtics forward Jayson Tatum and Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo secured frontcourt spots.
Lakers star LeBron James extended his all-time record of number of All-Star selections to 21 in the Western Conference. Warriors guard Stephen Curry and Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander accounted for the backcourt spots in the West while Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets and Kevin Durant of the Suns joined James as frontcourt starters.
The starters are selected by a weighted voting process with the fan vote accounting for half of the final outcome. The player and media portions of the vote each counted for 25 percent. Three frontcourt players and two guards were selected from each conference.
The reserves, who are picked by the league’s coaches, will be announced Jan. 30. LaMelo Ball of the Hornets narrowly missed out on being a starter after ranking first in the fan vote. However, he finished third in player voting and seventh in media. The Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama also barely missed out, finishing second in media voting but fourth for both players and fans. Luka Doncic, Anthony Edwards, Ja Morant, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, De’Aaron Fox, Devin Booker, Norman Powell, Anthony Davis, Jalen Williams, Alperen Sengun, Trae Young, Damian Lillard, Cade Cunningham, Darius Garland, Tyrese Maxey, Tyler Herro, Paolo Banchero, Evan Mobley and Jaylen Brown are among the names who could be voted in as reserves.
The 74th NBA All-Star Game on Feb. 16 will feature a new format, complete with a mini-tournament composed of four teams and three games. Two teams will meet in a semifinal while the other two will play in another. The victors in each of those games will meet in a final. The winner of each game is the first to 40 points.
Each team will be evenly split between the 24 players who are eventually named All-Stars, with the roster’s drafted by Inside the NBA’s Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley. The draft will air on Feb. 6 on TNT. The fourth team of eight players will be made up of the winning team from the Rising Stars game.
The four teams participating in the NBA All-Star Game will compete for a prize pool of $1.8 million. Each player on the team that wins the final will receive $125,000, while members of the second-place team earn $50,000. Players on the third- and fourth-place teams will receive $25,000.
The full voting results can be found here.