At 41, LeBron James’s time as a perennial starter in the NBA’s All-Star Game has finally come to an end after an unthinkable 21 consecutive seasons.
The Los Angeles Lakers star may very well qualify for his 22nd All-Star appearance this season, but as far as the vote to be named one of top-five Western Conference players, James fell just short.
Starters are determined by a weighted vote from fans (50 percent), players (25 percent) and a media panel (25 percent), all of whom favored seven or eight other candidates over James. In the end, Denver’s Nikola Jokic, James’ Lakers teammate Luka Doncic, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Golden State’s Stephen Curry and San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama were chosen as the top five players from the Western Conference.
Meanwhile, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, Detroit’s Cade Cunningham, Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey, New York’s Jalen Brunson and Boston’s Jaylen Brown wee named starters on the Eastern Conference ballot.
All-Star reserves will be named on February 1 and are chosen by a vote of the league’s head coaches. James remains a strong candidate, given his 22.6 point-per-game average for a Lakers team that’s in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race.
While the ballots for the 2026 All-Star Game are divided between Western and Eastern Conferences, the teams will actually be divided by players’ immigration status.
Lakers forward LeBron James can still earn a 22nd All-Star nod in his 23rd NBA season
Two teams of American stars and one International team will compete in a round-robin tournament consisting of four 12-minute games, or about the length of a standard NBA contest.
After the first three games, the two teams with the best record will advance to the championship, and if all three are tied 1-1 after the opening round, point differential will be used to determine the final opponents.
Discussions of a US-World format had been brewing for years. And just last season, the rival NHL scrapped its struggling All-Star format for a wildly popular 4 Nations Face-Off consisting of games between Finland, Sweden, the US and the ultimate-champion Team Canada.
Picking teams will remain more or less the same, although position designations are no longer a consideration. Commissioner Adam Silver will be ready to pick any additional All-Stars if the voting process fails to render a minimum of 16 Americans and eight international players.
The NBA’s All-Star game will be played February 15 at the Clippers’ Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.
