2024 NBA All-Star Starters and Reserves: A Sneak Peek from B/R Staff

Bleacher Report NBA StaffDecember 25, 2023: B/R Staff’s 2024 NBA All-Star Starters and Reserves So Far

Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo
It’s that time of year again.
No, not that time of year. It’s 2024 NBA All-Star Game talk time.
Voting for this season’s playground extravaganza tipped off on Tuesday, Dec. 19. To celebrate the opening of the megastar polls, Bleacher Report NBA Staff writers Grant Hughes and Dan Favale are here to deliver their All-Star rosters.
Hughes will handle the Western Conference. Favs has the Eastern Conference. Each roster will have 12 spots, divvied up as follows:
Two starting backcourt players
Three starting frontcourt players
Two backcourt reserves
Three frontcourt reserves
Two wild cards
PSA: These are our All-Star picks, not necessarily how we see the final results-which take into account votes cast by fans, players and media members (starters) and coaches (reserves)-shaking out.
Finally, our selections are locked and loaded as of games played Dec. 20. Things change fast in #thisleague, and the margins, specifically, between reserves/wild cards and honorable mentions are super-super slim. So, you know, try not to dispute our choices using performances that transpired after Wednesday.
Let’s build some All-Star rosters!

Eastern Conference Backcourt Starters

Tyrese Maxey and Tyrese Haliburton
Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers
Don’t pencil Haliburton into an Eastern Conference starter slot. Write his name is Sharpie. Or tattoo it onto something or someone. Or yourself. It’s permanent, a given, irreversible.
Haliburton’s play has cast a national spotlight onto the Pacers. That, naturally, has invited starker critiques of their defense. Mostly, though, the wider-scale attention is a nod to Haliburton’s relentless offensive motor, creativity, and versatility.
The damage he can do in transition and with his hitahead passes is well documented. But defenses bend and often break even when he slows down. Haliburton expertly leverages the threat of his pull-up jumper into half-court anarchy.
His finishing calculus is unpredictable-the shot types, the angles, the distance, everything. And he’s a whiz at burning defenses with his live-dribble playmaking. Among 80 players averaging at least eight drives per game, only James Harden and Malik Monk have higher assist rates. Nobody has tossed more dimes at the rim, per PBP Stats.
Also, Haliburton is ferrying his megastar’s burden with unfathomable ball control. He’s on track for his second season with an assist rate north of 45 and a turnover rate south of 13. Chris Paul is the only other player on record to maintain these benchmarks in multiple years.
Tyrese Maxey, Philadelphia 76ers
Figuring out the second starting backcourt spot gets tricky.

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