Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard 2024 All-Star Game starters
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard playing against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Fiserv Forum on Jan. 24, 2024. Photos by Stacy Revere/Getty Images.
MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and guard Damian Lillard have been selected as starters for the 2024 NBA All-Star Game.
According to a press release from the Milwaukee Bucks, this is the eighth consecutive All-Star Game selection and start for Antetokounmpo and the eighth selection for Lillard, who has been named a starter for the first time in his career.
In his 11th NBA season, Antetokounmpo is averaging a career-high 31.3 points (3rd in NBA), 11.7 rebounds (5th in NBA), and a career-high 6.2 assists per game while shooting a career-best 60.5% from the field (9th in NBA).
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By averaging 31.3 points on 60.5% shooting, Antetokounmpo is on pace to become the first player in NBA history to average 30+ points on 60% shooting in a season.
Two of the highest-scoring games in the NBA this season have belonged to Antetokounmpo, who poured in a career-high and franchise-record 64 points on Dec. 13 in addition to scoring 54 points on Nov. 19, which marked the most points scored in a road game in franchise history.
He’s reached the 40-point mark on four other occasions this season and has scored 30+ points in 26 of his 42 games played. Antetokounmpo has also tallied seven triple-doubles, which is tied for the most he’s had in a season in his career and is the fourth-most in the NBA this season.
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In his first season with the Bucks and 12th in the NBA, Lillard is averaging 25.3 points, 6.8 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 35.2 minutes per game. He’s eighth in the Eastern Conference in scoring and fourth in assists per game, while ranking fourth in the NBA in free throws made (306), fourth in free throws attempted (332) and second in free-throw percentage (.922).
In 41 appearances this season, Lillard has scored 20+ points 30 times, 30+ points 13 times and 40+ points twice while dishing out 10+ assists in seven games to give him seven double-doubles on the season. One of the most clutch players in the NBA, Lillard ranks second in the league with 98 points and is a league-leading +72 in clutch situations this season.
Antetokounmpo and Lillard, who have helped the Bucks to a 31-13 record this season, are the first Bucks duo to start an All-Star Game since Bob Dandridge and Brian Winters in 1976. It’s also the fifth time in the last six seasons that Milwaukee has had multiple All-Star selections.
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Lillard became the 21st player in franchise history to be named an All-Star and the seventh to be selected as a starter.
2024 NBA All-Star Game
LeBron James joined yet another exclusive club, and he’ll have plenty of familiar faces alongside him at this season’s NBA All-Star Game.
James is now an All-Star — and an All-Star starter — for the 20th time, with the league unveiling the results of this season’s starter balloting on Thursday night. James is the first 20-time All-Star in NBA history. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, whose career scoring record was broken by James last season, was a 19-time selection.
This year's game is Feb. 18 in Indianapolis.
Joining James in the Western Conference starting lineup: Phoenix’s Kevin Durant, Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Dallas’ Luka Doncic and Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the league's leader in 30-point games this season who edged perennial All-Star starter Stephen Curry of Golden State for the final West backcourt spot. Durant is a 14-time selection now, one of only 11 players in NBA history to be picked that many times.
In the Eastern Conference, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo will be joined by Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid — the reigning NBA MVP, two-time defending scoring champion and current NBA scoring leader — in the frontcourt. Tatum set an All-Star Game record last season, scoring 55 points in the contest at Salt Lake City on the way to MVP honors.
The East guards are Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton — who’ll be a starter on his home floor — and Milwaukee's Damian Lillard.
"You never want to take it for granted, right?" Tatum told TNT, which broadcast the unveiling of the starters before Boston’s game in Miami. "There’s 450 guys in the league and for the fans to consistently vote me, it’s truly an honor. It’s something I don’t take for granted. I grew up wanting to be in All-Star weekend every year and to live out that dream in real time is pretty cool."
Among the notables not picked as starters: Curry, Boston's Jaylen Brown, New York's Jalen Brunson, Atlanta's Trae Young, Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell, Miami's Bam Adebayo, the Los Angeles Lakers' Anthony Davis, Sacramento's De'Aaron Fox, Phoenix's Devin Booker, the Los Angeles Clippers' Kawhi Leonard, Philadelphia's Tyrese Maxey and Minnesota's Anthony Edwards.
The starters are selected through a formula where fan voting counts for 50%, voting by players themselves counts for 25% and voting by a panel of writers and broadcasters who cover the NBA counts for the other 25%.
The reserves, to be announced on Feb. 1, are chosen in a vote of the league’s head coaches. Any additions to the rosters, should a player be unable to participate because of injury or another reason, will be made by Commissioner Adam Silver.
There are very few players in the U.S. major pro sports to be selected as an All-Star, or its equivalent, in 20 different seasons. James is the first to have that distinction in the NBA. He joins hockey’s Gordie Howe and a trio of baseball players — Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Stan Musial — on that list.
Howe was a 23-time pick for the NHL All-Star Game. Aaron was a Major League Baseball All-Star in 21 different seasons, while Mays and Musial were in 20 seasons each. Mickey Mantle played in 20 baseball All-Star games over 16 seasons as a selection; some baseball seasons featured two All-Star contests.
This year’s All-Star Game goes back to the traditional East vs. West format, which was utilized in the first 66 NBA midseason classics. The most recent six saw the leading vote-getters from each conference serve as captains who got to draft their teams; James served as one of the captains all six times, with Antetokounmpo the other captain three times, Durant twice and Curry once.
But that format is gone, as is the ‘target score’ format that featured an untimed fourth quarter in the last four All-Star Games. The winner of those games was the first team to reach whatever the leading team had after three quarters, plus 24 points — the 24 being a nod to Kobe Bryant’s last jersey number. This year, it’ll be a regular game with overtime if necessary.
League officials said entering the season that they have been stressing to players the importance of improving the quality of the All-Star Game. According to SportsMediaWatch, last year’s game averaged around 4.6 million viewers across TNT and TBS — the lowest number since that stat started being collected.
"When you turn on an NBA All-Star Game, I think people expect to see some competition," Joe Dumars, the league’s executive vice president and head of basketball operations said as the season started.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.