The New York Knicks should have two All-Stars for the second consecutive season, but 2025 will be slightly different than 2024. For starters, Julius Randle is gone, but the player the Knicks traded him for will be in San Francisco representing New York.
Karl-Anthony Towns is on track to be an All-Star for the fifth time in his career. There were a lot of questions about how he'd fit with the Knicks, but he's far exceeded expectations. Towns is averaging a career-high 25.3 points, 14 rebounds, and 1.0 steals per game, shooting 55.2 percent from the field and 45% from three (both are career-bests).
Towns is rightfully one of the players with the most All-Star fan votes in the NBA. The second fan returns were released on Thursday. KAT is third in the Eastern Conference frontcourt with 1,872,228 votes. He's far ahead of Paolo Banchero, who sits fourth in the conference frontcourt with 788,502 votes.
All signs point toward Towns being an All-Star starter, but the fan vote isn't the only one that matters. Players (25 percent) and the media (25 percent) also get a say in who will start. KAT is having such a good season that it's hard to envision players and media not recognizing him for his efforts.
What about Jalen Brunson? He's fourth in East backcourt votes, so while he could (and should) be named an All-Star for the second consecutive season, he might not be a starter.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokić continue to lead their respective conferences in the second fan returns of #NBAAllStar Voting presented by AT&T.
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) January 9, 2025
Fans account for 50% of the vote to decide All-Star starters. Players and a media panel account for 25% each.
Next fan update:… pic.twitter.com/oQvm99AmE5
Knicks fans can help Brunson be named All-Star starter for first time
Brunson has 934,860 votes and is behind LaMelo Ball, Donovan Mitchell, and Damian Lillard. It will be hard to surpass Ball, who has an absurd 1,490,227 votes, but Brunson could catch up to Mitchell (1,181,310) and Lillard (1,019,739).
Fans helped Brunson make a sizable jump from the first fan returns to the second. After the first returns, he had 477,253 votes.
Jalen Brunson is catching up to Damian Lillard for #3 but he needs to get top 2 to be in starter territory pic.twitter.com/9a5u2tlcSi
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) January 9, 2025
Brunson was nearly named an All-Star starter last season, but Lillard finished above him because of the fan vote. It'd be a shame if the same happened again this season. Towns has taken a lot of the spotlight, but Brunson is averaging 25 points and a career-high 7.6 assists, shooting 47.7% from three and 38.6% from deep.
How cool would it be to see two Knicks start in the Bay? You can help make that happen by voting. All you need to do is create an NBA ID to vote, and it's free. Fans can vote either on the NBA App or at nba.com. Voting ends on Jan. 20, so there's still over a week left to keep Towns in starting territory and to help Brunson get there.