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[Subscribe to Yahoo Sports NBA on YouTube<\/a>]<\/p>\n Despite the latest grasp at a structural change to inject some juice into the proceedings, the nuts-and-bolts of the voting remain the same: You vote for five guys in each conference, with fan voting accounting for 50% of the final result, with player and media ballots accounting for 25% each. The main functional difference this year? Rather than choosing three frontcourt players and two backcourt players in each conference, the ballot has gone fully positionless. Just pick five guys, and keep it movin\u2019.<\/p>\n (Jonathan Castro\/Yahoo Sports Illustration)<\/p>\n Let\u2019s start out West:<\/p>\n Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder<\/a><\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Nikola Joki\u0107, Nuggets<\/a><\/p>\n Victor Wembanyama, Spurs<\/a><\/p>\n Luka Don\u010di\u0107, Lakers<\/a><\/p>\n Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves<\/a><\/p>\n All stats and records entering Thursday\u2019s games.<\/p>\n Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder<\/p>\n If you\u2019re reading this, I\u2019m guessing I don\u2019t have to burn too many calories on convincing you that Gilgeous-Alexander and Joki\u0107 \u2014 the top two finishers in Most Valuable Player voting in each of the last two seasons, and potentially this season\u2019s top two, barring eligibility concerns<\/a> \u2014 deserved a starting vote.<\/p>\n Gilgeous-Alexander has come back from winning his first MVP trophy and NBA championship seemingly better at everything<\/a>. He\u2019s second in the NBA in scoring, averaging 31.9 points per game on sparkling 55\/39\/89 shooting splits, producing points more efficiently and turning the ball over less as the preeminent mover on a Thunder team that opened the season 24-1 and that \u2014 despite what qualifies as a \u201cslump\u201d in OKC these days<\/a> \u2014 remains atop the West, on pace for 68 wins (and with the point differential of a 70-win squad<\/a>). With SGA on the floor, the Thunder have blown opponents\u2019 doors off by 16.5 points per 100 possessions \u2014 the largest margin of any player in the NBA, according to Basketball Reference<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hey, here\u2019s something I just looked up: Only three guards in NBA history<\/a> have averaged 30 points and five assists per game while shooting 50% from the floor. Stephen Curry did it during his unanimous MVP season in 2015-16. Michael Jordan did it five times. Gilgeous-Alexander, in Year 8, is on pace for his fourth \u2026 in a row.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Which is to say: This is a legitimately historic run, one that could wind up landing SGA in some awfully lofty conversations before all\u2019s said and done. For now, though, it\u2019ll land him on his fourth straight All-Star team.<\/p>\n Nikola Joki\u0107, Nuggets<\/p>\n Before hyperextending his left knee<\/a>, Joki\u0107 was off to the best start of his career<\/a>. And when you\u2019ve already won three MVPs, man, is that saying a whole hell of a lot.<\/p>\n Joki\u0107 is fifth in the NBA in scoring at 29.8 points per game while leading the league in rebounding and assists; he is 12 total points away from being on pace to join Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook as the only players in NBA history to average a 30-point triple-double for a season. On a per-minute<\/a> and per-possession<\/a> basis, Joki\u0107 has never scored this much, thanks partly to him splashing 43.5% of the 4.8 3-pointers he\u2019s attempting per game, both of which would be career highs.<\/p>\n He\u2019s on pace to post the highest true shooting percentage in NBA history among players who use at least 25% of their teams\u2019 offensive possessions, topping \u2026 himself<\/a>. He is also on track to set new all-time records in win shares per 48 minutes<\/a>, box plus-minus<\/a> and player efficiency rating<\/a>, and to become the seventh player ever to assist on more than half of his teammates\u2019 baskets<\/a>; the Nuggets have scored an absurd 130.1 points per 100 non-garbage-time possessions in his minutes<\/a>, which is light years beyond what even the best offenses in league history have mustered. Missed games be damned: The list of players who\u2019ve had a more consistently pronounced on-court impact than Joki\u0107 this season is either one name long or it doesn\u2019t exist. An easy choice.<\/p>\n Victor Wembanyama, Spurs<\/p>\n So, too, was Wembanyama, the centerpiece of the Spurs\u2019 rise to third place in the West and \u2014 by virtue of knocking off defending champion Oklahoma City three times in four tries and making it to the championship game of the NBA Cup \u2014 a spot among the ranks of bona fide title contenders.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Some voters might feel more compelled to knock Wemby out of a starting spot due to his injury absences: Thanks to an early-season calf strain<\/a>, followed by a knee hyperextension<\/a> that\u2019s led to him being on a minutes restriction, he\u2019s played just 26 games and 753 minutes \u2014 well below the other serious candidates for starting spots<\/a>. I hear that. I also don\u2019t really care about it.<\/p>\n I mean, come on: Dude\u2019s averaging 24 points, 11 rebounds and three assists per game on 51.4% shooting at age 22 \u2014 no one\u2019s done that since Kareem, 56 years ago<\/a> \u2014 while also profiling as the most menacing defensive force on the planet<\/a>.<\/p>\n There\u2019s plenty of credit to go around for San Antonio\u2019s surge up the standings: to Stephon Castle, making a massive second-year leap; to De\u2019Aaron Fox, reminding everyone exactly why the Spurs went out, got him and paid him; to a roster full of guys (Devin Vassell, Harrison Barnes, Keldon Johnson, Luke Kornet, Julian Champagnie) playing like stars in their roles; to head coach Mitch Johnson, ably carrying the weight of carrying the mantle left for him by one of the greatest legends the coaching profession has ever seen; etc. All of it, though, starts with the man in the middle \u2014 and 750 minutes of what he\u2019s been putting on tape was more than enough to earn my vote.<\/p>\n Luka Don\u010di\u0107, Lakers<\/p>\n Don\u010di\u0107, for his part, leads the NBA in scoring at 33.4 points per game on .606 true shooting to go with 8.8 assists (fourth-most in the league) and 7.9 rebounds a night \u2014 the lead guard at the controls of a Lakers team that is vying for a top-four spot in a tough-as-nails top of the West.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n There are nits to pick with these Lakers, who sit 10 games over .500 despite being just plus-1 for the season \u2014 not one point per 100 possessions; one point period<\/a> \u2014\u00a0and have outperformed their point differential and 23rd-ranked defense<\/a>, thanks in large part to being an NBA-best 13-1 in \u201cclutch\u201d games<\/a>. But L.A. is winning on the strength of its offense, which ranks seventh in points scored per possession<\/a> and is at its best with Luka leading the dance: The Lakers have scored like the Thunder with him on the floor<\/a> and like the Pelicans with him off it<\/a>.<\/p>\n Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves<\/p>\n The fifth starting spot came down to a handful of strong candidates in the midst of excellent seasons. Kevin Durant and Alperen \u015eeng\u00fcn have kept the Houston Rockets in the top five in offensive and defensive efficiency, and in the hunt for a top-four spot out West, despite the preseason loss of starting point guard Fred VanVleet. Ongoing salary-cap-circumvention investigations notwithstanding, Kawhi Leonard has been lights out for nearly two months \u2014 30.1 points on 50\/40\/93 shooting with 6.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.1 stocks per game since Thanksgiving<\/a> \u2014 to turn the previously lifeless Clippers into one of the NBA\u2019s hottest teams. Out in the Bay, Curry is scoring as much on a per-minute and per-possession basis as he did during his unanimous MVP season a decade ago, and doing so with characteristically unbelievable shooting efficiency for a Warriors team that, as ever, only goes as far as he can carry it.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n In the end, though, I landed on Edwards, in recognition of both his role in fueling Minnesota\u2019s rise up the standings \u2014 just a game out of second in the West entering Thursday\u2019s games, with the NBA\u2019s best record<\/a> and fourth-best net rating<\/a> since Thanksgiving \u2014 and his scintillating individual production.<\/p>\n Edwards\u2019 impressive run of increasing his scoring volume and efficiency in every year of his career has continued. He\u2019s averaging a career-best 28.9 points per game on .626 true shooting \u2014 a combination of volume and efficiency that represents incredibly rare air among NBA scorers<\/a> \u2014 while reducing his turnover rate despite more frequently serving as Chris Finch\u2019s point guard<\/a>, getting to the free-throw line more often, and continuing to play a key on-ball role in a Minnesota defense that\u2019s tied for fifth in points allowed per possession<\/a>.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n![\"(Jonathan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ED_011426_NBA_All-Star_WESTV2.jpg\"\/)
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