The NBA released the results on Thursday of the first round of fan voting for the 2023-24 All-Star game. As expected, Philadelphia 76ers premier duo Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey have both placed in the top 5 of the Eastern Conference. Tobias Harris, who the Sixers have also been encouraging in fan votes, was not included in the Eastern Conference list.
Sixers’ Joel Embiid stays dominant
Embiid is currently on a historic streak, with 14 straight games of 30 points and 10 rebounds per game. He’s just two games away from breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s streak of 16 games, all while averaging 40 points a game in December.
The reigning MVP currently sits at #2 of the Eastern Conference front-court fan voting with 1,844,025 votes. Only Giannis Antetokounmpo is ahead of him in the East, with 2,171,812 votes, a difference of just over 327,000 fan votes. This would mark Embiid’s 7th straight All-Star Appearance. Only Allen Iverson (11) and Wilt Chamberlain (13) hold more appearances in franchise history. As it stands, Embiid should pretty much be a lock for the starting center in the East.
Sixers’ Tyrese Maxey ascends the voting ladder
For his part, rising star Tyrese Maxey currently sits at #5 in the Eastern Conference backcourt for fan voting, with 480,062 votes. He’s currently behind Tyrese Haliburton, Damian Lillard, Trae Young, and Donovan Mitchell, with over 144,000 votes needed to catch up to Mitchell in 4th place.
If he were to make it, it would be Maxey’s first All-Star game. And it’d be well-deserved, as the 23-year-old has had nothing short of an explosive breakout season becoming the team’s main point guard. Maxey currently has 26 games on the season with 20 points or more, tied with Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, and Nikola Jokic for ninth in the NBA.
Trae Young, with just one more for 27 total, is the only one of the four guards ahead of Maxey with more 20+ point performances. He’s also tied with Lillard at 4th place in the East for 3-pointers made per game with 3.2, and Young and Haliburton are just a smidge ahead at 3.5 and 3.6 respectively. And perhaps most impressively, Maxey’s one of just six players in the NBA with a 50-point game this season, which came in November against Tyrese Haliburton’s Indiana Pacers. Maxey is heavily favored to win the Most Improved Player award this season, and has made a great case for an All-Star appearance.
Fan voting, which accounts for 50% of the vote to determine All-Star starters, runs until January 20. Until then, fans can vote each day for their favorites, with select days in January offering 3-for-1 specials where each vote counts 3 times. The next fan-voting update will be on January 11.
AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack
