To become an All-Star in the NBA is one of the greatest achievements any player can reach. Such an honor signifies that they are one of a few illustrious talents in the world and that the rest of the league views them as such. Year-after-year, we see various players make their first-ever NBA All-Star Game, and we expect nothing less during the 2023-24 season.
Last season was monumental pertaining to the All-Star Game, as seven different players made their first-ever appearance at All-Star Weekend. Obviously, superstar talents such as Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and others are staples at the event, but the midseason festivities are always a time for the new era to prove what they can do.
Roughly 26 spots are up for grabs when it comes to being an All-Star, which is why players really need to play well over the first couple of months of the new season in order to be on this radar, especially if they are looking to make their first-ever NBA All-Star appearance.
Heading into the 2023-24 season, there are several names already on the watchlist for potentially earning their first All-Star honors. Jamal Murray from the NBA champion Denver Nuggets, Mikal Bridges from the Brooklyn Nets, and Jalen Brunson from the New York Knicks are just a few of the talented players looking to finally earn the recognition they deserve.
Will any of them or a different player end up making the NBA All-Star Game during the 2023-24 season?
Throughout the course of the NBA preseason, ClutchPoints conducted a poll featuring media members from around the country, some of whom are official voters the league uses to determine the winner of their end-of-season awards. Some cover the league at-large, while others cover individual teams. Nonetheless, each media member was asked a variety of questions pertaining to the playoffs, NBA Finals, and individual player awards and accolades.
ClutchPoints' Full NBA Preseason Media Poll
Most Valuable Player | Rookie of the Year | Most Improved Player| Coach of the Year
Sixth Man of the Year | Defensive Player of the Year | NBA Finals/Playoffs/season predictions
Most likely to be a first-time All-Star
While the voting was close, the media believes there is a slight favorite to become an All-Star for the first time in his career. Below are the results from the voting that took place for the player media members believe will become an All-Star for the first time this upcoming year.
ClutchPoints' 2023-24 First-Time NBA All-Star Poll results
- Jamal Murray (Denver Nuggets) – 32%
- Mikal Bridges (Brooklyn Nets) – 28%
- Jalen Brunson (New York Knicks) – 16%
- Austin Reaves (Los Angeles Lakers) – 8%
Others receiving votes: Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs), Cade Cunningham (Detroit Pistons), Paolo Banchero (Orlando Magic), Tyrese Maxey (Philadelphia 76ers)
Jamal Murray's All-Star campaign
It is hard to believe that Jamal Murray is going to be entering his eighth NBA season, especially since he is still just 26 years old and has yet to play his best basketball. The leader of the Denver Nuggets' backcourt, Murray returned this past season after spending the whole 2021-22 season recovering from a torn ACL.
Not only did Murray look healthy, but he looked confident and picked up right where he left off prior to this injury. In a total of 65 games, the Nuggets guard averaged 20.0 points and 6.2 assists per game while shooting 45.4 percent from the floor and 39.8 percent from three-point range. Turning himself into an all-around offensive weapon, Murray was a big reason why Denver was able to break through and win their first championship ever.
As good as he was during the regular-season, Murray was even better in the playoffs, averaging 26.1 points per game while shooting 39.6 percent from three-point range. He may not be the athlete that Ja Morant or Donovan Mitchell are, and he may not be the elite-level scorer that Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard have proven to be, but Murray has shown he can put up explosive scoring outputs with the best of them while also blossoming as a playmaker.
Every team looks for a poised leader like him at the point guard position, which is why his value cannot be defined in Denver. Prior to his ACL injury, Murray was on the All-Star watchlist, one of the many reasons why he is a favorite to become a first-time NBA All-Star during the 2023-24 season.
Receiving 32 percent of the vote in the preseason media poll, Murray took the top spot as the most likely player to get to All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis for the first time in his career. This is obviously a feat he would like to achieve in his career in order to receive the recognition he deserves, but at the same time, Murray seems to be at peace following his team's recent championship.
“I’d rather be a champion,” Murray recently said this offseason, via The Denver Gazette. “A lot of guys are All-Stars and not champions.”
Whether his focus is to make the All-Star Game or not, Murray certainly has a good chance to do so if he can get off to a fast start early on during the 2023-24 season.
Mikal Bridges' All-Star campaign
Right behind Murray, Mikal Bridges finished second in the preseason media poll after receiving 28 percent of the vote, just a single vote behind the Nuggets guard.
Beginning the 2022-23 season as a secondary role player with the Phoenix Suns, Mikal Bridges quickly put himself on the map after being included the Brooklyn Nets' trade that sent Kevin Durant to the desert. Upon arriving in Brooklyn, Bridges cemented himself as the new face of the franchise, averaging 26.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game while shooting 47.5 percent from the floor and 37.6 percent from three-point range in a Nets uniform.
A lengthy, versatile, two-way wing who can really play anywhere on the court due to his abilities to play with and without the ball in his hands offensively, Bridges checks off all the boxes for becoming a star in this league. Bridges understands the expectations placed on him by the organization and knows what he is capable of doing as he prepares for his first full season with the team.
“It’s just the next step… I think it’s just that time where you keep growing as a person and a player. Who wouldn’t want this? Who wouldn’t want this type of pressure? These type of expectations,” Bridges told reporters at Nets Media Day, via ClutchPoints' Erik Slater. “If you really love the game and you really wanna be the best you can be as a player, you would want this type of feel where you’re the main guy and everything is on your shoulders like, what are you gonna do?
“I feel like I’m ready for the moment and always have been.”
One of the league's most improved talents a year ago, Bridges is one of the rising stars executives around the league are keeping an eye on. The Nets took a step backwards when their Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving experiment blew up in their face, but a new era of success appears to be upon them with Bridges leading the charge.
Other potential first-time All-Stars
New York Knicks Jalen Brunson finished right behind Murray and Bridges for third in the preseason voting, while Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves finished fourth. If any player deserved to make their first All-Star appearance last year, it was Brunson, yet he was not even picked to be a replacement.
The Knicks struck gold with their signing of Brunson last offseason, as he proved to be everything this team needed in their backcourt through the years. Putting up better numbers than some players who did reach All-Star status, the Knicks guard is going to be even more dangerous now that he has another chip on his shoulder.
For Reaves, the 2022-23 season proved to be a breakout year for him. Next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the former undrafted guard solidified his status as the third key talent in Los Angeles and helped lead the Lakers to the Western Conference Finals. He continued to find success in the offseason, as Reaves was one of the focal points for Team USA in the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
The Lakers obviously believe in Reaves and his abilities to help lead them to another title, awarding him a four-year, $56 million contract in free agency.
Victor Wembanyama, Paolo Banchero, Cade Cunningham, and Tyrese Maxey were the four other players to each receive one vote in the preseason media poll, all of whom are currently on their rookie-scale contracts. What's interesting is that Wemby is a rookie, Banchero is entering his second season, Cunningham is entering Year 3, and Maxey is in his fourth NBA season.
Who knows, maybe all four of them will have exceptional starts to the 2023-24 season and end up earning All-Star honors for the first time in their respective careers.
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