Australian Josh Geddy has made a huge leap into his second season in the NBA, and if you needed any proof of that, the All-Star voting results have landed.
Jedi (13) has the second most votes among sophomore players with Cleveland’s Evan Mobley polling 17.
Of course, Detroit’s Kid Cunningham, the first overall pick in the 2021 draft, has been injured since November, but the vote nonetheless is further evidence of Jedi’s rise in the league.
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Oklahoma City grabbed Jedi with the sixth pick overall, and while some considered it out of reach at the time, the Aussie proved them wrong with an exciting rookie campaign.
Jedi took his game to another level only in his sophomore season, improving his 3-point shooting and overall confidence as a scorer to an average of 16 points per game.
Gedi’s teammate Shay Gilgos-Alexander also enjoyed a much improved 2022-23 season, although he missed out on a starting spot in the All-Star Game, much to the Australian’s dismay.
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antikonmo will take over the two teams next month after the final vote, which saw Philadelphia star Joel Embiid fail to get a starting spot.
James Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – the man who is on his way to beating the NBA’s all-time leading scorer – would tie him for most All-Star appearances with 19.
The four-time NBA champion, who averages 29.9 points, 8.5 rebounds and 7.0 assists this season, is now a captain — as the best vote-getter from his conference — in each of the six years the league has used the captaincy form to pick their teams out of all available players.
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Antetokounmpo, a two-time Bucks’ NBA Most Valuable Player, will be captain for the third time in his career, having led a team in 2019 and 2020.
Joining James among the starters selected from the Western Conference are New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson, Denver Nuggets player Nikola Jokic, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry and Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic.
As for the other eastern players, they are Kevin Durant, Brooklyn Nets striker, Kyrie Irving, Boston Celtics striker Jason Tatum, and Cleveland Cavaliers goalkeeper Donovan Mitchell.
Fan voting accounted for 50 percent of the vote, with voting among NBA players and billboards each receiving 25 percent of the vote.
Jokic, a two-time MVP, will play in his fifth straight All-Star Game. He averaged 25.1 points, 11 rebounds and 9.9 assists for Denver, who led the Western Conference.
Williamson averages 26 points, seven rebounds and 4.6 assists for New Orleans, but has been sidelined with a hamstring injury since January 2.
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Durant earned his 13th consecutive All-Star nod, but it’s not clear if he’ll be available for the game in Salt Lake City on Feb. 19. He has not played since spraining knee ligaments on January 8 and could miss the mid-season exhibition. For the third year in a row.
Meanwhile, Irving made his eighth All-Star team while Tatum will play on his fourth — his first as a starter.
Mitchell would also make his first start, coming home to the Utah Jazz who traded him to Cleveland in September.
The All-Star reserves, who are selected by the NBA coaches, will be announced next week and the captains will select their teams shortly before the start of the game.
This is a change from recent years, when the draft took place virtually in the run-up to All-Star Weekend.
Join Embiid Among the notable names who have missed out on starting anchors are Memphis’ Ja Morant, Portland’s Damian Lillard, Philadelphia’s James Harden and the Lakers’ Anthony Davis — though it’s still possible to pick any of them as Reserves.