All-Star starters were announced on Monday afternoon as part of NBC and Peacock’s MLK Day NBA coverage, and to the surprise of absolutely no one, Nikola Jokic was elected as a Western Conference starter for the sixth straight year.
Despite the knee injury that has caused him to miss all of January, Jokic has still played in 32 games, which is more than fellow West All-Star starter Victor Wembanyama (28) and only one fewer than Luka Doncic and Steph Curry (33), who are also starting for the Western Conference.
So, while the missed games continue to pile up for the Joker, and it will lead to a later discussion about whether he’ll reach the 65-game mark, which determines eligibility for awards and honors at the end of the season, there was clearly no impact on his status for the All-Star Game in mid February.
Jokic finished second in fan voting behind Doncic, second in media voting behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and first in the player vote, which gave him a weighted score of 1.75, the best among all players. Don’t think that since Jokic has disappeared for a few weeks, he has been forgotten about, or his insane body of work is being discounted. He’s clearly still the hottest ticket in the league.
He was well on his way to a fourth MVP campaign before succumbing to the bone bruise on his right knee in late December. On the season, Joker is averaging 29.6 points, 12.2 rebounds, and 11 assists per game, and with any luck, he should be back before the end of the month.
2026 NBA All-Star Game less than a month away
With Jokic’s return expected as soon as the end of this week, and the hope that he’ll certainly be back by the end of January, he should have time to get back up to speed and should be able to make an appearance in the All-Star Game.
This year’s festivities will be hosted by the Los Angeles Clippers, inside their new, state-of-the-art Intuit Dome. The rest of the West starters will be SGA, Doncic, Wemby, and Curry. The biggest “snub” was Anthony Edwards, who actually finished tied with Wemby for the fifth spot. The tiebreaker went to the Frenchman, as he scored higher in fan voting.
Jamal Murray finished 11th in the West, just ahead of Devin Booker and just behind Kawhi Leonard. Jamal was 9th in media voting and 11th in player voting, but was held back by finishing 14th in fan voting. Regardless, he should be a lock to make the team as a reserve, which is determined by the coaches.
Don’t forget, this year, the format will be USA vs. World, so the players will ultimately be divided into three teams of 8 players, two being made up of Americans, and one of international players. If the numbers don’t add up, the commissioner will add players until they do.