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NBA Unveils 2025 All-Star Game Starters

January 23rd, 2025 at 7:01pm CST by Tristan Tucker

The 2025 All-Star Game starters were revealed on Thursday during Inside the NBA’s pregame show and confirmed by the NBA on social media (Twitter links).

In the Eastern Conference, a pair of Knicks made the cut, with Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns – in his first season in New York – earning nods. 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 to 21 consecutive All-Star selections 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 on Jan. 30. LaMelo Ball of the Hornets narrowly missed out on being a starter after ranking first in the fan vote, having finished third in player voting and seventh in the media vote. The Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama also barely missed out, finishing second in media voting but fourth for both players and fans.

Unchanged: 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, 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.

The format change means that the 10 players named starters on Thursday won’t be the only players who actually start on All-Star Sunday. The 24 players ultimately named All-Stars will be split among three eight-man teams, 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 event.

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.

And-Ones: All-Star Game, Fernando, Snyder, NBRPA, Woj

January 22nd, 2025 at 8:02pm CST by Luke Adams

Six NBA reporters at The Athletic, including Sam Amick, Fred Katz, and Joe Vardon, made their picks for the Eastern and Western Conference All-Star starters, with all six writers selecting the same three frontcourt players in the East: Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns.

Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nuggets center Nikola Jokic were the only unanimous choices in the West. Meanwhile, Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, and Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama each showed up on all but one of the six ballots from The Athletic’s reporters.

The NBA will officially announce this year’s All-Star starters on Thursday evening during a TNT broadcast. The starters are determined by votes from fans (50%), players (25%), and the media (25%).

We have more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Veteran NBA big man Bruno Fernando, who was waived earlier this month by Toronto before his full-season salary could become guaranteed, is in talks with Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid, as Michalis Gioylenoglou reports for Eurohoops.net. Gioylenoglou describes Fernando as becoming more open to making the move to Europe after having initially been reluctant to head across the Atlantic. However, no deal is done yet.
Hawks head coach Quin Snyder is among the candidates receiving serious consideration to become the next coach of Australia’s national team, sources tell Olgun Uluc of ESPN. The Boomers are seeking a successor to Brian Goorjian, who coached the national team at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics.
Former NBA big man Antonio Davis, who appeared in over 900 games from 1993-2006 and made an All-Star team with Toronto in 2001, has been named the CEO of the National Basketball Retired Players Association, reports Marc J. Spears of Andscape (Twitter link). According to Spears, Davis will “drive the strategic visions, business operations, member services, and growth” of the NBRPA, a non-profit association representing former NBA players.
In a feature story for The New York Times, Bruce Schoenfeld checks in on Adrian Wojnarowski, exploring why the former star news-breaker, who was making $7.3MM annually at ESPN, accepted a job at his alma mater, St. Bonaventure, that pays him about one percent of that amount ($75K per year).

Atlantic Notes: Drummond, Thomas, Hart, Raptors

January 22nd, 2025 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Sixers center Andre Drummond cashed in with Detroit when he became a free agent in 2016, signing a five-year, maximum-salary contract worth in excess of $127MM. However, the veteran big man has had to settle for deals worth the minimum or a little above it in recent years — his current two-year, $10MM pact with Philadelphia is his most lucrative contract since that max deal ended.

Appearing this week on Podcast P with Paul George (YouTube link), Drummond told his Sixers teammate that he regrets how he responded after earning that max deal with the Pistons.

“Once I got that max contract, I was like, ‘Oh s–t, my work is done. I did it. I made it here. Now I get to play however I want to play. I’m the best guy on my team, making the highest amount of money, so I get to have this leadership role,'” Drummond said (hat tip to HoopsHype). “I don’t think I did it the right way, because not only did I not understand that that could’ve been $100 million two or three or four or five times — I only got it once because I didn’t maximize that time of being the max guy.

“If I could go back, I would’ve done it completely differently. I would’ve been a lot more attentive to working on my game and becoming more than just the best rebounder in the league. I would’ve tried to add more different pieces to my game so that when the league changed, it wouldn’t have been so difficult for me to make the adjustment with the league too.”

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

Nets guard Cam Thomas, who has been out since January 2 due to a left hamstring strain, has resumed on-court activities but isn’t taking contact yet, according to head coach Jordi Fernandez. Bridget Reilly of The New York Post has the story.
Josh Hart believes his comments earlier this month about the Knicks needing to put aside “egos” and “agendas” were blown out of proportion and made it clear he wasn’t referring to any specific teammates, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. “Y’all look too much into everything,” Hart said on Tuesday. “… I said something about egos and y’all took that and ran with it. To win, you have to have a team that don’t have egos. That’s why Boston won. They have a team that doesn’t have egos. You got Jrue Holiday that’s been an All-Star, All-Defense, All-NBA, max player. He don’t give a damn about scoring. So that’s the ego-less attitude that we have to have. There was no pinpointing somebody. But that’s what you have to have to win.”
Tuesday’s 16-point victory over Orlando served as a glimpse at what the first half of the Raptors‘ season could’ve looked like if the team hadn’t had to deal with so many injuries, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. As Grange observes, reliable second-unit veterans like Kelly Olynyk and Bruce Brown – both of whom didn’t make their season debuts until December – played key roles in the win. Olynyk, who was an incredible +39 in 22 minutes, and Brown are both considered candidates to be moved at the trade deadline.

Knicks Notes: Bridges, Towns, Hart, Shamet, Robinson

January 21st, 2025 at 1:12pm CST by Luke Adams

Traded from Brooklyn to New York over the summer, Knicks forward Mikal Bridges has had to adjust to new roles on both sides of the ball this season, as Chris Herring writes for ESPN.com.

On offense, Bridges is handling the ball significantly less than he did with the Nets, with his touches down nearly 20% and his usage rate easily the lowest it’s been since his last full season in Phoenix. On the other end of the court, he has often served as the point-of-attack defender on guards rather than being assigned to bigger wings, which means he’s spending more time chasing smaller players around screens.

“Teams wanted to try attacking him, because it was a different spot for him; especially early on,” one Western Conference scout said to Herring. “If you got past him initially, you could force all sorts of aggressive rotations because the team was still getting used to having (Karl-Anthony) Towns at the rim. And the collective trust didn’t look like it was there.”

While Bridges’ transition remains a work in progress, his offensive numbers have rebounded following an up-and-down start. Since the start of December, he has averaged 20.0 points per game on .523/.385/.757 shooting. He’ll face his old team on Tuesday in the Knicks’ first visit to Brooklyn this season.

“It’ll be just good to be back,” Bridges said on Monday, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. “To see my teammates and the coaching staff that was there for a couple months before I got traded. See the staff and everybody. Good energy.”

Here’s more on the Knicks:

Towns, who missed a pair of games due to a bone chip in his right thumb, was back in action on Monday against Atlanta. Josh Hart was also active after initially being listed as questionable due to a cervical compression that he said had been bothering him for a little while and was aggravated on Friday, according to Bondy. Towns’ injury appeared to be affecting his shot – his 27.8% mark from the field (5-of-18 shooting) was his worst of the season – but both players made it through the contest without setbacks. They’re listed as probable to play against Brooklyn on Tuesday, tweets Bondy.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau expanded his rotation from eight players to nine on Monday, with Landry Shamet earning 10 minutes off the bench after a pair of DNP-CDs, writes Ian Begley of SNY.tv. Bridges was the biggest beneficiary of the move, logging just 27 minutes, well below his season average (a league-high 38.7 MPG). “It’s nice, man,” Bridges said, according to Bondy. “We got a lot of players, 1 through 15. So it’s good.”
Mitchell Robinson, who said just a few days ago that he was down to 268 pounds, said on Monday that he’s now at 265, according to Bondy, who suggests the big man’s weight is notable due to his struggles with fitness and conditioning coming off injuries. According to Begley, he hasn’t heard anything to contradict the “internal hope/belief” that Robinson could return to action in early- to mid-February.

New York Notes: Bogdanovic, Knicks, Nets, Robinson, Achiuwa, Sims

January 20th, 2025 at 5:56pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Bojan Bogdanovic has resumed on-court activities for the Nets, Brian Lewis of the New York Post reports. However, he’s still not close to returning to action.

Bogdanovic, acquired from the Knicks in the Mikal Bridges blockbuster, underwent foot and wrist surgery during the offseason. The 35-year-old has an expiring $19MM contract.

We have more on the New York teams:

While the Knicks are probably done making blockbuster deals, they could still make a notable move before the deadline. The Athletic’s James Edwards looks at some potential trades the Knicks could make, then canvasses other Athletic beat writers for their opinions. The most intriguing idea suggested would be a three-way deal with the Pistons and Bulls in which New York lands Isaiah Stewart and Torrey Craig, while Zach LaVine winds up in Detroit.
The Thunder have provided a blueprint for the Nets’ regime to follow, Lewis writes. The Nets have been collecting draft picks and opening up cap space and they can use those draft picks to build long-term sustainable success if they remain patient. They’ve already made necessary but difficult trades, moving veterans for assets. “[The Thunder] have trusted the process,” coach Jordi Fernandez said. “You can see they’re a group that believe in what they do, and they trust what they do. And this is because, along a period of time, even if things go one way or the other and there’s adversity, there’s no second-guessing.”
Mitchell Robinson‘s uncertain return as he continues to rehab from foot surgery complicates the Knicks’ trade deadline approach, according to Steve Popper of Newsday. Citing league sources, Popper reports that Robinson is considered a risk by potential suitors without seeing him play before next month’s deadline. He’s not expected to return before that happens, Popper adds. Assuming Robinson is not traded, the Knicks will have a hard time counting on him to stay healthy when he does return. Precious Achiuwa and Jericho Sims are also potential trade pieces as the Knicks seek to upgrade their bench but they are hesitant to move either one until they know when Robinson will suit up.

Knicks Notes: Robinson, Randle, DiVincenzo, Towns

January 18th, 2025 at 9:49pm CST by Arthur Hill

Knicks center Mitchell Robinson posted on his Instagram account Friday that his weight is down to 268.2 pounds as he awaits medical clearance to begin practicing, writes Peter Botte of The New York Post. Robinson, who is recovering from ankle surgery last May, is hoping to take part in practice by the end of January, but coach Tom Thibodeau cautioned that there are still several steps remaining.

“Just working individually right now. So he hasn’t been cleared. There will be a progression and it starts with 1-on-0, which is really where he is right now,” Thibodeau said in Friday’s pregame session with the media. “He hasn’t been cleared for contact yet. So that will be the next phase.”

Robinson’s return would be welcome for the Knicks, who have missed having a reliable rim protector. Thibodeau also confirmed that he envisions having Karl-Anthony Towns spend time at power forward to create a pairing with Robinson similar to what he had with Rudy Gobert in Minnesota.

“We feel like with Karl’s comfortable doing both, playing both positions,” Thibodeau said. “So we feel like it will be an added weapon for us.”

There’s more from New York:

Timberwolves forward Julius Randle, who made his return to Madison Square Garden on Friday after being traded in October, told Stefan Bondy of The New York Post that he often wonders how good last year’s Knicks could have been if he hadn’t suffered a shoulder injury. Buoyed by a late-December trade for OG Anunoby, New York was tearing through the league before Randle was lost for the season on January 27. “We went into every game expecting to win,” Randle recalled. “Teams would hang around and we would end up winning by like 20 points. It felt like we were starting to get super dominant. We had everything. And everybody’s game was going to the next level. Chemistry was dope. It was unfortunate the injuries happened. But that team was incredible.”
Randle was the only major player from that trade who took part in Friday’s game, notes Steve Popper of Newsday. Donte DiVincenzo was ruled out with a sprained left big toe, while Towns was a late scratch as he recovers from a right thumb injury he suffered Monday. There were no video tributes for Randle or DiVincenzo, according to Popper, as those took place during a preseason contest. “The thing is, it’s actually the third time we played now,” Thibodeau said. “And as time goes on, there’s always going to be that connection — it’s the reality of our league. Like I said, every night, there’s something for somebody. Just stay focused on getting ready to play. But that’s part of his story, part of Julius’ story, part of Donte’s, and that’s what makes the league what it is.”
The Knicks’ reliance on Towns was on display Friday, Popper adds, as they struggled to score without him available. New York is just 2-3 without Towns, who averages 25.4 points and 13.9 rebounds per night.

Eastern Notes: Butler, Harper, Achiuwa, Raptors

January 18th, 2025 at 11:32am CST by Tristan Tucker

Jimmy Butler returned to the Heat from his team-issued suspension amid his trade request, but nothing has really changed for the star, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes. The Heat haven’t gained any momentum in their trade discussions so far, but will continue to try to fulfill Butler’s request before the Feb. 6 trade deadline.

Butler scored 18 points in a 20-point loss on Friday in his return to action.

“I guess it’s basketball at this point,” Butler said. “I know what I’m expected to do while I’m here. I tried to do that to the best of my ability, but we are where we are.”

According to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press, Butler was asked what would happen if he’s still on Miami’s roster after the Feb. 6 deadline passes. “We’ll hoop,” the 35-year-old replied.

“There was a lot said by everybody except for me, to tell you the truth,” Butler said after the game, per Reynolds. “So we’ll let people keep talking like they know everything, like they have all the answers. And then sooner or later, the whole truth will come out. But until then, we’ll continue to let people talk. And if I’m here, I will get out there and play.”

We have more from the Eastern Conference:

The Pistons signed Ron Harper Jr. to a two-way contract on Jan. 6, giving him a roster spot on the team he grew up idolizing, according to Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press. Harper’s father was an assistant coach in Detroit from 2005-07. “Those are like my first core basketball memories,” said the younger Harper, who has yet to appear in an NBA game with the Pistons but is averaging 12.7 points per game in 18 G League outings this season.
With Karl-Anthony Towns dealing with an injury, Precious Achiuwa is playing key minutes for the Knicks. According to Stefan Bondy of the New York Post, Achiuwa is confident he’s an elite defender in the league. “It’s been an up-and-down season for me just in terms of getting hurt, coming back, playing a little, playing a lot. A lot of things in between,” Achiuwa said. “[But] if you know how to play, you know how to play. Center, power forward — whatever the case is.“
The anniversary of the Pascal Siakam trade to the Pacers means the traded player exception the Raptors received — that had $5.1MM remaining — officially expired, Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca writes. They used part of the exception to absorb Davion Mitchell‘s salary in the move that sent Jalen McDaniels to the Kings and brought Mitchell, Jamal Shead, and a 2025 second round pick to Toronto. Murphy also takes a closer look at the Raptors’ cap situation, noting that they continue to operate more than $10MM below the tax line, creating some flexibility at the trade deadline.

Injury Notes: Nance, Risacher, Kyrie, KAT, Nurkic, Beal, Suggs

January 17th, 2025 at 6:37pm CST by Luke Adams

Veteran forward/center Larry Nance Jr. is making progress in his rehabilitation process following right hand surgery, according to the Hawks (Twitter link), who announced that Nance will be reevaluated in one week and an update on his status will be shared at that time.

The Hawks will be down another forward in the short term, as Zaccharie Risacher, who missed Wednesday’s game vs. Chicago due to left adductor irritation, has been ruled out for two additional contests, per the club.

Risacher will be inactive for Saturday’s visit to Boston and Monday’s to New York before being reevaluated when the Hawks return home from their road trip ahead of next Wednesday’s game vs. Detroit.

Here are a few more injury-related updates from around the NBA:

Mavericks point guard Kyrie Irving will be back in action on Friday vs. Oklahoma City after sitting out the second end of a back-to-back set on Wednesday following his return from a back injury. Head coach Jason Kidd said he expects Irving to play “in the 33 (minute) range,” per Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal (Twitter link).
Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns, who is dealing with a bone chip in the thumb, isn’t facing his old team on Friday, having been ruled out of New York’s game vs. Minnesota just over a half-hour before tip-off, tweets Steve Popper of Newsday. Reporting this week indicated that Towns plans to play through his thumb injury, so it’s possible he’ll be back in action on Monday vs. Atlanta.
Suns center Jusuf Nurkic won’t play on Saturday in Detroit, having been ruled out for a fourth straight game due to an illness, according to Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports (Twitter link). Prior to the illness, Nurkic was removed from Phoenix’s starting lineup and was a DNP-CD in two games last week. Suns guard Bradley Beal, who sat out on Thursday due to a left ankle sprain, is listed as doubtful for Saturday’s contest.
Sidelined since January 3 due to a lower back strain, Magic guard Jalen Suggs said he’s “really itching to get back out on the court,” writes Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. An exact return timeline remains unclear, but Suggs has made good progress since being on “bed rest for a couple days” after first sustaining the injury. “Hopefully I’ll be out here soon,” he said on Friday.

Atlantic Notes: Edwards, George, Celtics, Hart, Nets

January 16th, 2025 at 5:43pm CST by Tristan Tucker

Sixers two-way rookie wing Justin Edwards is emerging for a team in need of silver linings, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. The Philadelphia native scored 25 points on four three-pointers made, along with six rebounds and four assists on Tuesday against the Thunder.

Edwards’ role increased with eight players out for Philadelphia, leading to a career high in minutes played.

“I think he’s really, really improving,” head coach Nick Nurse said. “Again, he gives a really good effort on the defensive end. He’s capable of guarding lots of positions defensively, and he’s got a good feel offensively. Again, the ball finds him because he’s moving to the right place at the right time. I thought he took a good number of threes that were there.”

According to Pompey, Edwards credited the G League with his development this season. Edwards has appeared in 17 games for the Delaware Blue Coats this season, averaging 18.5 points per game on .474/.381/.880 shooting in the NBAGL. He didn’t play much at the NBA level to open the season, but has logged at least 12 minutes in six of the Sixers’ past seven games, averaging 9.7 PPG on 55.0% shooting during that stretch.

The Sixers signed Edwards to a two-way deal after he went undrafted in 2024. Like fellow two-way players Pete Nance and Jeff Dowtin, he’s on a one-year contract and will be eligible for restricted free agency at season’s end.

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

After losing four straight games and seven of their last nine, the Sixers and Paul George aren’t giving up on what has been a disappointing season, Pompey writes in another story. George says he sees a light at the end of the tunnel with 43 games left in the season. Nurse expressed a similar sentiment, issuing a reminder that the Sixers’ big three of George, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey have only played 10 games together — the club is 7-3 in those games.
The Celtics are facing a tough stretch this month despite owning the NBA’s third-best record at 28-12. The defending champions have mostly downplayed their recent struggles, according to Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe, but Himmelsbach says there was “a new, ominous air of frustration and urgency” following double-digit Wednesday loss to the 10-win Raptors on Wednesday. The Celtics have three losses – all by at least 13 points – in their last five games, eking out a one-point victory over the 10-win Pelicans during that stretch.
Josh Hart continues to prove he’s one of the league’s elite role players, averaging 14.2 points, 9.6 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 56.6% from the field and 36.9% from three. As James L. Edwards III of The Athletic observes, that stat line has never been accomplished by a player 6’8″ or shorter, which would make Hart the first if his statistics hold. In fact, the only players in league history to reach those minimum averages in a season are Embiid, Nikola Jokic and Larry Bird.
The Nets are exactly where they need to be in their rebuild, opines Anthony Puccio of NetsDaily. While their Wednesday 59-point loss to the Clippers was the worst in franchise history, they have a coach in Jordi Fernandez who looks like a long-term solution, along with plenty of cap flexibility, draft capital and young players worth taking further looks at.

New York Notes: Towns, Hart, Embiid, Nets, Johnson

January 16th, 2025 at 9:31am CST by Dana Gauruder

Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns missed Wednesday’s overtime victory over Philadelphia due to a thumb injury. He has a bone chip in the thumb, which he injured during a loss to Detroit on Monday, but plans to play through it, Peter Botte and Stefan Bondy of the New York Post report.

The thumb is also sprained but surgery isn’t necessary or anticipated, either during or after the season, the Post duo adds. Towns is averaging 25.4 points and 13.5 rebounds per game in his first season in New York.

We have more on the New York City teams:

Josh Hart called out unnamed Knicks teammates after recent losses for letting “egos” and “individual agendas” get in the way of team goals. Coach Tom Thibodeau said on Wednesday that Hart needs to choose his words more carefully, Bondy writes. “I think oftentimes the next day after you look at the film, you’re putting a mic in front of someone right after a game. And sometimes they may say things, we all may say things that we wish we had not said until you watch the film the next day,” the coach said. “And then there’s usually a pretty good reason why something occurred. So before you say something, you probably should think.”
The Knicks are fortunate they didn’t go all in and trade for Joel Embiid when rumors circulated last season about the team’s interest in the Sixers center, Bondy opines. They would have squandered their draft capital and other assets for an oft-injured center still owed $300MM due to his extension without injury protections. Of course, Philadelphia never actually made Embiid available.
The games just keep getting uglier for the rebuilding and tanking Nets, as they suffered the worst loss in franchise history on Wednesday. The 126-67 pummeling by the Clippers was also one of the 10 biggest routs in NBA history, Brian Lewis of the New York Post notes. “This is not the time to point or deflect anything,” coach Jordi Fernandez said. “It’s time for everybody to own, and I will own first. The guys kept fighting; I don’t think that they quit. And it’s one of those days that you don’t do anything right, you don’t have that right energy and togetherness. But you try and you just need a little bit more focus and all these things.” Cameron Johnson, who could be moved before the trade deadline, missed the second game of a back-to-back due to a sprained right ankle, Lewis adds.
With the front office clearing more cap space than any other team for next offseason and hoarding draft picks in trades, the Nets have the flexibility to make a franchise-altering move, Lewis writes for the New York Post (subscription required). The big prize would be Giannis Antetokounmpo if he ever asks out of Milwaukee, as the Nets covet the superstar forward.