The early results from fan voting for the 2026 NBA All-Star Game are in, and Luka Doncic has emerged not just as a leading Western Conference candidate but as the top overall vote-getter so far.
The Los Angeles Lakers star has captured the fan imagination in a way few expected this early in the season, a testament to both his individual performance and his impact in one of the league’s biggest markets.
Doncic, a perennial All-Star and one of the most electrifying players in the NBA, has drawn 1,249,518 fan votes, giving him a clear edge over every other player in the league at this stage of voting.
Early figures also show Giannis Antetokounmpo leading the Eastern Conference with 1,192,296 votes, reinforcing his status as one of the most popular players in the game.
Those numbers are part of the first fan voting update released by the NBA on December 29, 2025, a key milestone in this year’s All-Star selection process.
After fans cast ballots, the results are combined with votes from NBA players and a media panel, each accounting for 25% of the final starter decisions, with fan votes representing half of the total.
For Doncic, leading the league in fan votes so far reflects his continued rise into basketball’s elite tier. After his blockbuster move to the Lakers earlier this year, his national profile has only grown, and being stationed in Los Angeles doesn’t hurt when it comes to visibility and fan engagement.
Still, the race is far from over. Fan voting continues into January, with January 6 slated for the next round of results.
The league has also designated a “3-for-1 Day” on December 30, when every vote cast will count triple, giving fans an extra incentive to boost their favorite contenders.
Early fan results reveal a crowded race beyond the leaders
While Doncic and Antetokounmpo headline the returning figures, the early numbers reveal a deep pool of contenders jockeying for All-Star recognition.
In the West, Denver‘s Nikola Jokic sits just behind Doncic with 1,128,962 votes, followed by Stephen Curry and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, both of whom have also topped the million-vote mark.
The Eastern Conference has its share of rising stars as well. After Antetokounmpo, Tyrese Maxey, Jalen Brunson, and Cade Cunningham have all surpassed one million fan votes, indicating a highly competitive landscape in the East.
Donovan Mitchell also ranks prominently in the early returns.
It’s worth noting that these figures represent only the fan vote portion of the All-Star ballot.
Because the league no longer separates players by position for starter selections, athletes in traditionally underrepresented roles can rise in the rankings more easily.
In past seasons, positional designations sometimes skewed starters toward certain types of players.
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