NBA All-Star Starters Announced

Los Angeles is used to bringing the biggest and brightest stars to town and will host the NBA’s best on February 15 at Intuit Dome. Basketball fans now know which 10 players were selected as All-Star Game starters, putting them a cut above their peers.

The Eastern Conference All-Star starters are: Tyrese Maxey of the Philadelphia 76ers, Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks, Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons, Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics, and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Cade Cunningham is an All-Star 𝙎𝙏𝘼𝙍𝙏𝙀𝙍 ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/Et3Kq0jx8H

— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) January 19, 2026

The Western Conference All-Star starters are: Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers, Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets and Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs.

Victor Wembanyama’s teammates were confident he would be named an All-Star starter when they were announced Monday.

The Spurs’ big man wasn’t so sure.

Reaction from Wemby here on the next step in his NBA journey here:https://t.co/V0xEDb39qS

— Jeff McDonald (@JMcDonald_SAEN) January 20, 2026

Antetokounmpo led fan voting in the East, while Doncic led fan voting in the West and for the whole league.

The NBA noted that fans, NBA players and NBA media members comprised the three voting groups that decided the All-Star starters, with the fan vote being weighted the most significantly at 50 percent. Players and media each had 25 percent of the vote.

There was a photo finish for the final starting spot in the Western Conference, as Wembanyama and Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards finished tied. A fan vote tipped the scales towards Wembanyama to break the deadlock.

Really am incredibly surprised Anthony Edwards did not make it. He’s been out of this world this season: playing point guard, shooting 72 percent in the clutch, being more consistent on defense. He’s taken another leap in Year 6, and a big one at that.

— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) January 19, 2026

The 2026 edition of All-Star Game voting also made history in a unique way. For the first time since 2005, LeBron James was not named as a starter. The Los Angeles Lakers star missed the first 14 games of the season as he dealt with sciatica.

James still has a chance to participate as a reserve, which has not been the case for his prior 21 All-Star appearances.

While being named an All-Star starter is still important, it doesn’t mean that the 10 nominated players will be on the floor when competition begins on February 15.

That’s because the NBA changed the All-Star Game format to a “US versus the World” structure, where players are divided into two US squads and one World team. Given that Antetokounmpo(Greece), Jokic(Serbia), Doncic(Slovenia), Wembanyama(France) and Gilgeous-Alexander(Canada) were named starters, they would figure to have the leg up to start for the World team in mid-February.

The natural question arises about the possibility of not enough US-born or not enough international-born players making the All-Star team. If that were to happen, commissioner Adam Silver would select additional players to round out the roster(s). The originally selected players would remain All-Stars.

The World team will be comprised of eight international All-Stars, while the two US All-Star teams will have eight players each.

There will be a round-robin style tournament between the three teams, featuring four 12-minute games. The two top teams will advance to the championship game, which will be the fourth 12-minute contest.

The All-Star reserves will be announced on February 1 on NBC and Peacock, right before the Los Angeles Lakers take the floor against the New York Knicks.