Cavaliers struggling to receive All-Star votes during disappointing season

Losing games is going to result in praise being low.

The Cleveland Cavaliers cannot be happy with the recent update on the voting for the 2025-26 NBA All-Star Game. On Monday, Dec. 29, the Cavaliers found out they have ground to make up as the first wave of fan voting came in and had just a single player from Cleveland on the Top 20 list: guard Donovan Mitchell.

The talented 29-year-old has been the lone bright spot for the team this season, putting up averages of 30.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.4 assists a night on shooting numbers of 49.7% from the field and 39.0% from beyond the arc. He's also making an impact defensively with 1.4 steals a game.

He currently has 851,155 votes, placing him fifth in the Eastern Conference voting. The only four players ahead of him are guards Tyrese Maxey of the Philadelphia 76ers, Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks and Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons, and forward Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks.

While those are the current Top 5, that could shift at any time. Both conferences' five starters will be determined by fans, taking up 50% of the vote, and current NBA players and a media panel, who will take up 25% each.

Luka Dončić and Giannis Antetokounmpo lead their conferences in the first fan returns in NBA All-Star Voting 2026.

Fans (50% of the vote) join NBA players (25%) and a media panel (25%) in selecting five players in each conference honored as starters.

Next fan update: 1/6. pic.twitter.com/pHykl9yhTE
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) December 29, 2025

Outside of Mitchell, the Cavaliers are also represented by two former members of the organization, LeBron James and Lauri Markkanen, who each are receiving votes with their new teams in the Western Conference.

As of now, Mitchell's also in the race for the NBA's Most Valuable Player honor, with his potential All-Star appearance coming as no surprise, though.

The next fan voting update will come on Tuesday, Jan. 6, just under a month before the All-Star Game takes place. This year's game will be held at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Cali., the home of the Los Angeles Clippers, on Sunday, Feb. 15.

The Cavaliers' players will have a bit more time to try and flip fans to vote for them, but with so little postitives being shown from many of them up to this point in the season, it'll be hard to garner much praise. The players most likely to potentially slide into the Top 20 would be guard Darius Garland and forward Evan Mobley, but they, too, would need to have some eye-catching games over the next few weeks.

However, with Mobley being plagued by an injury bug, just like Garland earlier in the season, it may be a tall ask to see him return to a high enough form to warrant All-Star votes.

The Cavaliers will next be in action on Monday, Dec. 29, against the San Antonio Spurs with tip-off set for 8:00 p.m. EST.