Lauri Markkanen has a chance to make the 2026 NBA All-Star team.
The Utah Jazz forward was in the Western Conference’s top 20 in the first returns from All-Star fan voting. He came in at 16th in the West with just over 112,000 votes.
While the top vote getters have already racked up more than 1 million fan votes, that doesn’t mean Markkanen is out of the running to make a team.
This year, as in years past, there will be 24 total All-Stars (12 from each conference) selected. But, there are two key differences to this year’s All-Star team format. This year, All-Stars will be selected without regard to position, so no more worrying about having a certain number of backcourt or frontcourt players.
Also, this year there will be three All-Star teams made up of a minimum of eight players. There will be two U.S. teams and one World team made up of international players.
The five All-Star starters from each conference are determind by fans (50% of the vote), current NBA players (25%) and media votes (25%). Seven reserves for each conference are selected by NBA head coaches.
As the voting returns stand, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Victor Wembanyama and Giannis Antetokounmpo will be easy top choices for the World team. So it looks like Markkanen will be competing for a reserve spot with Portland’s Deni Avdija, Houston’s Alperen Sengun, New York’s Karl Anthony-Towns, Indiana’s Pascal Siakam, Denver’s Jamal Murray and Chicago’s Josh Giddey.
Through 27 games played this season, Markkanen is averaging 27.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per game, while shooting 47.6% overall, 36.7% from 3-point range and 90.3% from the free-throw line. He made his first All-Star appearance in 2023, when he was an All-Star starter in the game that was hosted in Utah.
