How Are NBA All Star Starters Selected?

All-Star voting begins at the start of the season and fans have the opportunity to vote for their favorite players to start in the All-Star game.

Introduction

The National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game is an annual exhibition game played between the Eastern and Western Conference All-Star teams, consisting of the most talented players in the league. Each conference team contains 12 players, who are selected by a combination of fans, media, and active NBA players. The starters for each team are chosen by a vote; each voter selects two guards, three frontcourt players, and two wild cards regardless of position. The 14 All-Star Game starters are then chosen from these selections.

How are starters selected?

Starters for the NBA All-Star Game are selected through a combination of voting by fans, media members and current NBA players. Each group represents one-third of the total vote. The fan vote serves as theprimary tiebreaker if necessary.

Who selects the starters?

The starters for the NBA All-Star game are selected by a combination of fan, player, and media voting. Each group is allotted a specific amount of weight that their votes carry. The Fan vote holds the most weight, accounting for 50% of the vote. The Player and Media votes make up for 25% each.

Voting starts at the beginning of January and goes until the end of the month. The starters are announced on the Thursday before the All-Star weekend.

How have the selection process and criteria changed over time?

The process for selecting NBA All-Star starters has changed several times throughout the history of the league. Early on, fan vote was the primary method for choosing starters, but that soon shifted to a combination of fan, player, and coach vote. In recent years, the process has been a mix of fan vote and media vote.

Here is a rundown of how the selection process has changed over time:

1951-1957: Fan vote was the only method used to select starters. Fans would mail in postcards with their picks for each position.

1958-1969: A panel of sportswriters and broadcasters chose the All-Star starters, while fans continued to vote for the reserves.

1970-1974: The Eastern and Western Conference coaches selected the All-Star starters. Fans continued to vote for the reserves.

1975: The starting lineups were chosen by a combination of fan, player, and coach vote. This is how it has been done ever since, with some slight variations.

1984: For this one year only, two players from each conference were chosen as captains and got to pick their teams via a schoolyard pick em’ style format. Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas were the captains that year.

1995: For one year only, fans were asked to choose two players (one guard and one forward) from each conference instead of just one player per position.

1996-1998: Starting lineups were chosen by a mix of fan, player, and coach vote, but unlike in previous years where each group got one third of the vote, fan votes counted for 50%, while both player and coach votes counted for 25%.
2003-2005: To try and add some more excitement to selections (and create more reason for people to watch All Star Saturday), names of potential starters were announced one week before voting closed instead of waiting until after voting had concluded as was customary in years past. Also during this time period, players who finished in the top two at their position in fan voting but were not picked as starters would automatically become reserves.

2006-present: The current system is a mix between media members and fans. 75% of the starter selections come from fan voting while 25% come from media members; previously it had been 50/50 split between fans and media members from 1990 until 2005 .

Conclusion

The starters for the NBA All-Star Game are selected through a combination of fan voting, player voting, and media voting. The fans account for 50% of the vote, while the players and media each account for 25%. The starters are then announced at the NBA All-Star Game Selection Show, which is typically held a week or two before the game itself.