Can the Chicago Bulls' Josh Giddey Make One Last Push for an All-Star Spot?

I don't think many Chicago Bulls fans gasped when they saw the 2025-26 All-Star starters.

Sitting at 20-22 amid another mediocre season, the organization was not destined to have its first All-Star starter since DeMar DeRozan in 2021-22. However, simply having Josh Giddey as a representative among the Top 20 vote-getters felt like a step in the right direction. That is, until his hamstring decided to put his All-Star push on pause.

The guard sat 14th among Eastern Conference players in the NBA's first voting release. This had him in front of players like Mikal Bridges, Joel Embiid, and Paolo Banchero. After suffering a strain against the Minnesota Timberwolves on December 29, though, we started to see the jumbo guard stumble down the leaderboard.

This led to Monday's final results, which no longer featured Giddey among the conference's Top 20. Instead, Orlando's Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero ended up moving ahead of him despite Giddey sitting in front of both during the NBA's last release on January 6.

A closer look at the NBA's full Eastern Conference results shows that Giddey finished 21st with 279,408 fan votes. Interestingly enough, he also finished 21st in player voting. The All-Star starters are determined every year by a combination of fan, player, and media ballots. The fan votes count for 50 percent, while the players and media split the other 50 percent.

Is Josh Giddey's All-Star Dream Dead?

Josh Giddey of the Chicago Bulls — Dec 27, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Josh Giddey (3) is greeted as he comes to the bench in the game against the Milwaukee Bucks during the second half at United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images | David Banks-Imagn Images

While Josh Giddey's All-Star dreams may be on life support, I'm not sure we can officially say it's over. The fan, player, and media voting can certainly be a strong indication of who will make the big man, but let's not forget that these results have nothing to do with deciding the reserves. Those ballots only impacted the starters in each conference, and it's now up to the coaches to decide who will make up the rest of the roster on each side.

It still feels like Giddey is destined to earn himself a few votes. When on the court this season, he has played the best basketball of his career. The guard has averaged 19.2 points, 9.0 assists, and 8.9 rebounds a night. He's also shot a solid 46.6 percent from the field and a career-high 38.5 percent from long range.

Particularly when we consider this improvement as an all-around scorer, there is reason to believe that he could come to mind when coaches sit down to cast their votes. After all, those coaches are having to put him far higher on the scouting report than ever before this season.

Let's also not fail to consider that his health has only trended up in recent days. In fact, Chicago upgraded him on Monday to questionable for their meeting against Minnesota, meaning he could play his first game of 2026 as soon as Tuesday. If he is able to take the floor and post a few more triple-doubles over the next couple of weeks, that could go a long way toward earning him some more consideration.

To be sure, he has an uphill battle ahead of him. The chances of him making it feel pretty darn low, especially when we consider the Bulls continue to sit in a Play-In Tournament spot for the fourth consecutive year. It's also not as if he has a ton of time to grab the attention of NBA head coaches. The reserves will be announced on February 1, which is less than two weeks away. The Bulls have seven games on the schedule before then.

There is one last thing to consider when thinking about Josh Giddey's path to a potential All-Star roster spot. The NBA has – yet again – drastically changed the format of the event. They will do a three-team tournament that features two American teams vs. one World team. This means they will need 16 American players and at least eight world players to be voted in. If they fail to fill the rosters properly through the initial wave of voting, Commissioner Adam Silver will pick additional All-Stars. Could Josh Giddey be one?

Now, it's worth mentioning that five of the Team World spots have already been filled by starters: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, and Victor Wembanyama. It feels more than likely that at least three more international players will earn a spot via the coaches. Jamal Murray, Alperen Sengun, Deni Avdija, and Wagner are three potential reserves who could make the cut and keep Giddey locked out.

Still, this is one other path to keep in mind as we head toward the next batch of results.