How does NBA All-Star voting work? Steven Adams earns seven player votes despite not playing this season

Steven Adams was once described by LeBron James as “the strongest guy in the NBA". Photo / Photosport

Steven Adams is either one of the greatest teammates of all time, or one of the greatest basketball players of all time.

As NBA All-Star Weekend approaches, fans and players have eagerly been awaiting the announcement of the All-Star starters after the voting period expired — with Adams being a surprising winner.

NBA All-Star voting is split between fans, media and players. The fan voting makes up 50 per cent, with the remaining 50 per cent split evenly between media and fans. Players and media submit only one ballot, while fans may vote as often as they choose within the designated period.

The 2024 All-Star starters have been announced and thus the full voting results have been released.

Remarkably, Adams collected seven player votes in the Western Conference Frontcourt ballot— that is despite having not taken the floor for his Memphis Grizzlies this season at all.

For context that ranks the Kiwi at 31 out of 97 players, putting him in the top 31.9 per cent of eligible players this season as judged by his peers. Not bad for someone who has spent the entirety of this season dishing out high-fives rather than dunks.

For further context, Adams’ seven votes are more than the number earned by future Hall of Famer Draymond Green (6), 2023 All-Star Andrew Wiggins (1) and fellow big men Jusuf Nurkic (5) and Ivica Zubac (1).

Two-time MVP Nikola Jokic collected the most player votes with 197, next was LeBron James (144), and Kevin Durant (142) rounded out the top three.

If an example were needed to showcase that fans aren’t as clever as they think, Adams received only 8601 fan votes ranking him 65 out of 97.

LeBron James collected 5,098,872 fan votes to top the list, 594,406 more than Jokic who came in second.

As for media voting, only 10 players received one vote or more. Adams missed out entirely on this ballot, perhaps American media didn’t see enough enthusiasm from Adams on the Grizzlies bench.