One deserving NBA player is not getting much love from the fans in the early going of All-Star voting.
On Thursday, the NBA released the first returns of the fan vote for the 2025 All-Star Game. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo is the overall leading vote-getter so far with 1,710,630 votes, and Denver’s Nikola Jokic currently leads the Western Conference with 1,422,121 votes.
Here are the full voting returns (with the fan vote counting for one-half of the overall weighting).
Nikola Jokić and Giannis Antetokounmpo lead their respective conferences in the first fan returns of #NBAAllStar Voting presented by AT&T.
Fans account for 50% of the vote to decide All-Star starters. NBA players and a media panel account for 25% each.
Next fan update: 1/9. pic.twitter.com/OoIIa3S3fn
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) January 2, 2025
One major snub was apparent though. Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland did not even make the top-10 in voting among Eastern Conference backcourt players. Washington’s Jordan Poole and Boston’s Derrick White were among those who surprisingly made the leaderboard over Garland.
Plenty of fans online pointed out the fact that Garland had been overlooked.
DARIUS GARLAND IS AVERAGING 21/3/7 ON 49/43/91 SPLITS.
VOTE FOR HIMpic.twitter.com/xEXYLoRTHS
— Isaac Okoro Fan Club (@IsaacOkoroFan) January 2, 2025
darius garland is averaging 21/3/7 on 49/43/91 splits in 30 minutes per game exactly and isnt even top 10 among east guards in all star voting i actually dont think some of you should be allowed to view this sport
— mika (@reddlikeroses) January 2, 2025
DARIUS GARLAND NEEDS TO BE HERE
— Mack Perry (@DevaronPerry) January 2, 2025
Where’s Darius garland
— DawgPound (@cleveland4life_) January 2, 2025
The 24-year-old Garland, who was already an All-Star in 2022, is the floor general for a Cavs team that has the best record in the NBA this season (29-4) as well as the best offense in the NBA (120.0 points per 100 possessions). With individual averages of 20.5 points and 6.7 assists per game on 49.3 percent from the field and 42.7 percent from deep (both career highs), Garland’s All-Star case is rock-solid.
Of course, Garland does not really have much name recognition, and fan voting is little more than a popularity contest (as evidenced by LaMelo Ball of the 7-25 Charlotte Hornets leading all East backcourt players in votes).
Still, with voting running through Jan. 20 and both players and media members getting to have a say in the final tally as well, Garland may get a boost in the coming weeks. But with the huge number of talented guards in the East especially, this kind of thing inevitably happens every single season.
