After the second return of fan voting for the 2024-25 NBA All-Star Game, Damian Lillard sits third among guards in the Eastern Conference behind LaMelo Ball and Donovan Mitchell. As the Milwaukee guard looks to earn his ninth All-Star selection, Bucks leader Giannis Antetokounmpo urged fans to vote.
In a post to his Instagram Story Thursday morning, The Greek Freak posted a photo of himself and Lillard on the court, urging fans to go vote for his Milwaukee co-star.
In response, Lillard posted Antetokounmpo’s story on his own story, adding:
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“Ride me sir lol”
Lillard holds just over 161,500 votes outside of second place, while Antetokounmpo leads not only in voting on the Eastern Conference front, but also all players in the league when it comes to fan voting .
The starters for both teams are selected based on votes from fans, NBA players and the media. Reserve players are then chosen based on votes from league coaches, with each conference selecting seven reserves.
Prior to February’s All-Star Weekend, starters will be announced Jan. 23 on TNT, with reserves then announced Jan. 30 during the network’s TNT NBA Tip-Off.
A look at Damian Lillard’s case for an All-Star selection this season
As previously mentioned, Damian Lillard currently ranks third among guards in the Eastern Conference. With LaMelo Ball nearly 500,000 votes ahead of Lillard and over 300,000 votes ahead of Donovan Mitchell, it appears he will likely earn his second All-Star selection.
The question now is whether Damian Lillard can pass Donovan Mitchell to secure his All-Star starting spot, or if he should hope for a backup spot.
If the current rankings hold up and Donovan Mitchell gets the second starting guard spot in the Eastern Conference, Lillard still has a strong case to earn his ninth All-Star selection.
Lillard averages 24.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game.
At the same time, he improved both his field goal percentage and 3-point percentage from last year, while helping Milwaukee reach fifth place in the Eastern Conference despite a poor start to the season slow.
As fan votes indicate, alongside Lillard, Jalen Brunson and Trae Young both have cases to be selected as All-Star reserves for guards in the Eastern Conference. Brunson helped lead the Knicks to third place in the East by averaging 25.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 7.6 assists on 47.7% from the floor.
In Young’s case, with the Hawks sitting in ninth place in the East, Young leads the league with 12.2 assists per game, a notable jump from his average of 10.8 per game last season. Additionally, Young is averaging 22.6 points and 1.3 steals per game shooting 40.1% from the field.
Given that, while Damian Lillard has a strong case to be selected as the Eastern Conference’s starting guard, it’s clear that the competition is tough.
Edited by Evan Bell
