LeBron, Jokic, Gilgeous-Alexander Among 2025 NBA All-Star Game Starters

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, right, grabs a rebound away from Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Los Angeles on Nov. 23, 2024. Mark Terrill/AP PhotoJ

The 2025 NBA All-Star Game will have a new format, with a four-team tournament, but it will consist of lots of old names and faces to the casual NBA fan. The All-Star Game starters were announced on Thursday, and all 10 players revealed are veterans of the league’s annual midseason exhibition.

Starters consist of two backcourt players and three frontcourt players per conference. Here are the 10 players you’ll see on the court during tipoff at the NBA All-Star Game 2025 on Feb. 16:

East backcourt: Jalen Brunson—New York Knicks, Donovan Mitchell—Cleveland Cavaliers

East frontcourt: Jayson Tatum—Boston Celtics, Giannis Antetokounmpo—Milwaukee Bucks, Karl-Anthony Towns—New York Knicks

West backcourt: Stephen Curry—Golden State Warriors, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander—Oklahoma City Thunder

West frontcourt: LeBron James—Los Angeles Lakers, Kevin Durant—Phoenix Suns, Nikola Jokic—Denver Nuggets

In terms of All-Star Game experience, the West starters outnumber the East starters 2:1 in terms of previous appearances. Counting this year’s game, the East Starters combine for 28 All-Star selections, while the West starters combine for 57 selections. Brunson (second appearance) and Gilgeous-Alexander (third appearance) are the only of the 10 players with fewer than five All-Star Game selections.

At the other end of the spectrum, James is extending his own NBA record with his 21^st selection. Last year, he broke a tie with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (19) for most all-time selections, while Durant gets his 15^th nod to the game. That is tied for the fourth-most in NBA history—alongside Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and Shaquille O’Neal—and it only trails James, Abdul-Jabbar and Kobe Bryant (18). Also in double-digits in terms of All-Star Game selections is Curry (11), and he’ll be the unofficial host of the game as it will take place at the Chase Center in San Francisco, home of the Warriors.

The number of selections for the remaining starters are as follows: Antetokounmpo (nine selections), Jokic (seven), Tatum (six), Mitchell (six), Towns (five), Gilgeous-Alexander (three), Brunson (two).

All-Star Game starters are named via a voting process, with three separate avenues able to cast their votes. Fan voting accounts for 50 percent of the vote, while NBA player vote and media vote each account for 25 percent of the vote. While fan voting returns were announced on a weekly basis over the last month, the player and media voting isn’t announced until the starters are revealed.

That system can lead to players who are atop the fan voting, and presumably on their way to start in the game, then finding out that they weren’t selected as starters once the player votes and media votes are tabulated. That is the case with Charlotte Hornets guard, LaMelo Ball, for this year’s game. He led all East guards in fan voting but finished third in votes from fellow players, and a distant seventh in voting from media members. Thus, Ball ended up not being named a starter, while Brunson and Mitchell made up ground via the player vote and media vote to get their respective starting nods.

With 10 players now named for the 2025 NBA All-Star Game, there are still another 14 players that will need to complete the two rosters, with seven reserves for each team. Those 14 will be announced on the NBA on TNT Tip-off Show on Jan. 30. Unlike with the starters, fans, media and fellow players have no input on who gets named an All-Star reserve. Instead, head coaches of each All-Star Team’s specific conference vote on the reserves, and coaches are not allowed to vote for their own players. Coaches will vote for two guards, three frontcourt players and two wildcards—players regardless of position—to complete the All-Star Game rosters.

The All-Star Game 2025 will have a new format after years of non-competitive and sometimes lackluster play. There will be four teams, with the 24 NBA All-Stars split among three of those teams, with eight members per team. The fourth team will be the winner of the Rising Stars Challenge, which takes place the Friday before Sunday’s All-Star Game. The Rising Stars Challenge consists of NBA rookies, sophomores and G-League players, and the NBA adopted its format and applied it to Sunday’s game. The NBA rookies and sophomores are split into three teams, with the G-League players consisting of the fourth team in the four-team format.

Both events will have semifinals, with the two winning teams then advancing to the final. For each game, the Elam Ending is in place as the winner will be the first team to reach 40 points.

The 2025 NBA All-Star Game will be the 74^th edition of the league’s showcase. The Golden State Warriors will host it for the fourth time in franchise history—and first time since 2000—but this will be the first event in the Chase Center, which opened in 2019. It is the culmination of NBA All-Star Weekend, with tipoff of the game taking place on Feb. 16.