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Jayson Tatum looks like a lock to start his fifth straight NBA All-Star Game

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BOSTON -- Celtics star Jayson Tatum appears to be a lock to start the NBA All-Star game for a fifth straight year. Tatum is second among Eastern Conference frontcourt players in fan voting, with less than a week to go in the voting process.

The third and final fan returns were announced by the NBA on Thursday, and Tatum has 2,842,956 votes. He trails only Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo in the East frontcourt voting, with the Bucks superstar leading everyone with 3,489,956 fan votes. Denver's Nikola Jokic is second overall in fan voting with 2,924,436 votes in the West.

This would be the sixth straight All-Star nod for Tatum over his eight-year NBA career. He's started each of the previous four All-Star games, and earned MVP honors for the 2023 NBA All-Star Game when he scored a record 55 points to lead Team Giannis to a 184-175 victory in Utah. 

If voting ended today -- and fan voting was all the NBA relied on -- Tatum, Antetokounmpo, New York's Karl-Anthony Towns, Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell, and Charlotte's LaMelo Ball would be starters for the Eastern Conference. But fans do not have final say on the starters. 

Fan voting for the 2025 NBA All-Star game runs through Monday, Jan. 20 and accounts for 50 percent of the process. Votes from NBA players and media members count for 25 percent, each.

Tatum is nearly a lock to be named a starter, and he likely won't be the only Celtics player heading to San Francisco in February,/ But he may not have as much company as expected when the season began.

Jaylen Brown's All-Star chances

Jaylen Brown is currently fifth among Eastern Conference frontcourt players with 933,090 votes, so he won't be making the festivities as a starter. Brown will likely get in as a reserve, but that might not be a guarantee given his -- and the team's -- recent struggles. 

But Tatum and Brown will likely be the only two All-Stars from Boston this season. Derrick White and Jrue Holiday have an uphill battle among a number of talented Eastern Conference guards, and big man Kristaps Porzingis won't get much consideration after he missed the first month of the season.

If he gets an All-Star nod this season, it would be the fourth of Brown's career. He's earned the honor in each of the last two seasons, after making his first All-Star team during the 2019-20 season.

NBA All-Star Game rosters and format

The NBA All-Star Game starters will be announced on Jan. 23, and coaches will then vote on seven reserves from each conference, which will be announced on Jan. 30. But this year will not see the Eastern Conference take on the Western Conference, as the NBA is trying something new to give the festivities a little more excitement.

The 24 NBA All-Stars will be broken into three teams of eight players, which will be drafted by TNT's Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, and Kenny Smith. Those three teams, along with the winning team from the Rising Star Challenge between rookies and second-year players, will then play games to 40 in a knockout-style tournament.

The mini-tournament will be played on Feb. 16 at the Chase Center in San Francisco, the home of the Golden State Warriors.

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