After the second fan vote for the 2024-25 NBA All-Star Game, Damian Lillard LaMelo Ball and behind him sit third for Eastern Conference guards Donovan Mitchell. Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo urged fans to vote as the Milwaukee guard seeks his ninth All-Star selection.
In a post on his Instagram story Thursday morning, the Greek Freak posted a photo of himself and Lillard on the court, urging fans to vote for his Milwaukee counterpart.
In response, Lillard posted Antetokounmpo's story in his story, adding:
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“call me mister lol”
Lillard sits just outside of second place with 161,500 votes, while Antetokounmpo leads all players in the league not only in Eastern Conference Frontcourt voting, but also in fan voting.
Starters for both teams are chosen based on votes from fans, NBA players and the media. Reserve players are then selected based on votes from coaches across the league, with seven reserves selected in each conference.
Ahead of February's All-Star weekend, the starters will be announced Jan. 23 on TNT, and the reserves will be announced Jan. 30 during the network's TNT NBA Tip-Off show.
We look at Damian Lillard's case for an All-Star selection this season
As mentioned earlier, Damian Lillard currently ranks third among guards in the Eastern Conference. With LaMelo Ball sitting ahead of Lillard by nearly 500,000 votes and Donovan Mitchell by more than 300,000 votes, it looks like he will earn his second All-Star selection.
The question now is whether Damian Lillard can pass Donovan Mitchell and secure his spot as the All-Star starter, or if he should hope for a spot as a backup.
If the current situation holds and Donovan Mitchell secures the second Eastern Conference guard spot, Lillard still has a strong case to earn his ninth All-Star selection.
Lillard is averaging 24.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game.
At the same time, he improved on both his field goal percentage and 3-point percentage from last year, while helping lead Milwaukee to fifth place in the Eastern Conference despite a slow start to the season.
Both, along with Lillard, as voted by fans Jalen Brunson and Trae Young There are cases for Eastern Conference guards to be selected as All-Star backups. Brunson averaged 25.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 7.6 assists on 47.7% shooting to help lead the Knicks to third place in the East.
In Young's case, Young leads the league with 12.2 assists per game as the Falcons sit in ninth place in the East, a marked jump from last season's 10.8 apg average. Additionally, Young is averaging 22.6 points and 1.3 rebounds per game from 40.1% shooting.
Given that Damian Lillard has a strong case to be the Eastern Conference's point guard, it's clear that there's some tough competition.
Edited by Evan Bell