The third update on fan voting for the All-Star Game has Nikola Jokic, LeBron James and Kevin Durant heading the list of Western Conference frontcourt players, NBA Communications tweets. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Stephen Curry and Luka Doncic have received the most votes among Western Conference backcourt players. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum and Karl-Anthony Towns are the top three vote-getters among Eastern Conference frontcourt players, while LaMelo Ball, Donovan Mitchell and Damian Lillard have the most votes among the conference’s backcourt players.
The fan vote counts for 50 percent regarding All-Star starters. Player voting and a media panel’s selections are weighed at 25 percent apiece. Fan voting ends Monday and the All-Star starters will be revealed on Thursday during a TNT broadcast.
We have more from around the basketball world:
- Will a new basketball league to challenge the NBA come to fruition? According to Bloomberg.com, a group of investors being advised by Maverick Carter, James’ business partner, is seeking to raise $5 billion from private capital sources to form an international basketball league. James himself is not part of the efforts to form this new league, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. The investors, which includes multiple private equity funds, is looking to form a league consisting of six men’s teams and six women’s teams playing games around the world, Charania adds.
- Speaking of international games, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said on Shaquille O’Neal’s podcast that discussions have been held regarding a new European league, Eurohoops relays. “One of the things we’ve been discussing is whether, before adding NBA franchises in Europe, there’s an opportunity to create an independent league there. This could leverage the enormous interest in basketball in major European capitals like Paris, London, Berlin, and Madrid— and other major cities that love basketball,” Silver said. Discussions between the NBA and FIBA regarding the proposed league have previously been reported.
- Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix and Liam McKeone hand out their midseason awards, including Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year and Coach of the Year. Mannix chooses Gilgeous-Alexander as his midseason MVP, while McKeone selects Jokic. They also take a look at the highs and lows of the season.
I’ve been wondering about a basketball league’s potential viability, with AEW being around, and even the success of the big 3, at least originally before they changed it too much…I think it’s doable, but you’d have to utilize the g-league towns and built in fanbases, or, you’d have to have really significant defections, which i think is doable if the money is there, for a handful of people, or it would have to be outside of the US, which they’re seemingly talking about, though I don’t know if the nba’s European idea, and this other alternative league are the same thing, or if it’s separate, etc…a new nba affiliated league changes the entire discussion, but I could see them doing something with other countries, plus the Africa leagues they already have…
Right now, there is soooo much talent not even in the nba that could easily be. It’s harder than ever to get to the nba, and exponentially harder than that to stay in the league, especially for guards and bigs…if the league was basically a better g-league that’s beneath the nba, and you get paid at a certain level b/c of the money being there, I would 1000% watch it, if it’s accessible (it is funny that kyrie already tried to pull this idea)
You really cant have a actual NBA team that plays in this league in EU or Asia. The travel would be so bad the NBAPA and most other relevant entities would shut it down. You could have a separate league that has some sort of winners tournament with NBA teams included, but a team thats 9-12hr time difference from the rest of the league will never happen and would be such a competitive disadvantage to the team that has to play all their road games at what is like 3am for the home market they live in. You would also get players refusing trades or being drafted by the team because they arent willing to up and move to GER.
I didnt say anything about a team on another continent being part of the actual nba…my eyes are shot/not working right now, so I can’t proof read anything I said, but I probably misphrased it/wasn’t clear enough
I was talking about talent not currently in the league as options to fill out a strong new alternative league, if it were to happen
No the article does. It says that and NBAEU league would come before an NBA team in EU. From the Shaq interview.
Right…and I’m speculating about those potential leagues…I’m confused about this conversation…
I suspect the leauge office is behind Carters push. That’s a high ask starter seed money number.
The first round would have to be no less than 500 million for something in the concept only stage.
That’s not how it works.
How does this work though? Do they really think they could poach top talent from the NBA/WNBA? If they cant can they offer enough to poach EU talent, maybe. If they dont have real stars like KD/Steph/LeBron how will they get people to care?
The league would have to think that having a super league that poaches the best of the NBA would be a good thing for this to work.
Competition would only drive basketball forward. 5 billion is less than half the nba annual revenue…you could definitely pay a handful of players to be the launching point, but it has to be key people that can give them credibility out of the gate, as a challenger brand…the type of audience you get though, is what we’re talking about b/c I think other leagues have proven there is interest…it just depends what their distribution would be like, and how well word of mouth does for a startup…then they create their own stars, and eventually there is FA movement between leagues, which only makes it better for the players, and potentially fans going forward…I feel like you would need a few more years, and would have to start with a small quantity of teams. I personally think within 4 years, starting now, the league could EASILY add 4 teams, so you could try to put together a good 6-8 team league at the start, with all the available resources, plus hopefully some defected players out of the gate
Can you enlighten us on how it works, please?
How are there “all star starters” when its 3 teams chosen by the inside crew? Are we doing 15 starters? Will one team be allowed to start 7 players since one of the guys could select starters from both conferences and have more than 5.
Also how quickly are the commentators going to turn when the “rising stars” team just gets smoked. Like one of the 3 real teams basically gets a bye FFS SMH. Adam Silver is such a f***ing idiota!
They just need to scrap the games. Give all the players a week off instead.
Jalen Rose: 76ers are the most disappointing team
NBA needs a midseason award like “the most disappointing team” so the GM will fix the problem.
76ers don’t even want to fix the problem.
76ers are doing ok considering their injuries and lack of depth.