Mavs' Luka Doncic Leads All Guards in NBA All-Star Voting; Kyrie Irving 5th in West
DALLAS — The first wave of NBA All-Star fan voting results was released on Thursday, featuring Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic, who received more votes than any other guard. Kyrie Irving ranked fifth among Western Conference guards.
With 1,452,733 votes, Doncic leads over Stephen Curry, who has garnered 1,394,980 votes, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 966,927 votes. It will be a competitive landscape among those three players for the two starting guard positions from the Western Conference.
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Irving received 388,170 votes, placing him behind James Harden (431,951), along with Doncic, Curry, and Gilgeous-Alexander. While Doncic received the most votes of any guard in either conference, he still ranked behind Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, Joel Embiid, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, and Nikola Jokic in votes.
Fan voting is just part of the overall landscape of how All-Star starter nominations are determined. However, it still accounts for 50 percent of the decision, with the remainder being split between NBA players and a media panel.
Doncic is coming off a historically impactful month of December, averaging 37.5 points, 11.1 assists, and 8.9 rebounds. He produced basic counting averages that haven't been achieved playing at least 10 games within a month since Oscar Robertson achieved it in December 1960.
With yet another career year, Doncic has averaged 33.7 points, 9.3 assists, and 8.3 rebounds in 32 games, shooting 48.7 percent from the floor, 38.2 percent from 3-point range, and 78.5 percent on free throws. He's at single-season career-best marks in scoring, assists, 3-point percentage, and free throw percentage. The Mavs have gone 20-12 in his performances.
Irving, returning from a 12-game absence due to a right heel contusion, has averaged 22.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 5.1 assists in 19 games. He's shooting 47.2 percent from the floor, 39.8 percent from the perimeter, and 88.4 percent from the free throw line. However, he admitted earlier this season to not being focused on personal accolades like All-Star or All-NBA; instead, he wants to emphasize peaking at the right time.
"I just want to try something different at this point because the last few seasons I've had, whether outside of just different factors, me not being in the game, I just felt like I would peak a little bit too soon and get tired before All-Star break," Irving said. "Naturally, as a competitor in this league, you want to make All-Star, you want to make first team, second team, third team, you focus on those individual goals and accolades, but I pushed all that to the side.
"It's not a priority for me coming into this season, and I had to be at peace with that," Irving explained. "I want to dive into being a better teammate, being a better leader, and showing these guys how to sacrifice in different ways. And my time is called throughout the times later in the season, and I'll be prepared. But as of right now, no rush, just staying patient and, um, just continuing to put in the work."
Irving and Doncic bounced back from an underwhelming road loss against the Utah Jazz by combining to score 70 points against the Portland Trail Blazers, with neither player stepping foot on the court for the fourth quarter.
Given their reputations in the NBA and popularity among fans, Doncic and Irving have strong cases to earn another All-Star appearance, especially if Irving can continue to produce at his regular levels after returning from injury. The next update on fan voting is scheduled for January 11.
