Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic voted an All-Star starter for third-straight year
Jan 26, 2023, 5:09 PM | Updated: 5:12 pm
Nikola Jokic is headed to Salt Lake City next month, voted an NBA All-Star starter for the third-straight year.
The five-time All-Star is the frontrunner to win his third-straight MVP award, leading the Denver Nuggets to the best record in the west. Jokic is pacing the NBA in triple-doubles, scoring 25.1 points per game, grabbing 11 rebounds a night and throwing a career-high 9.9 assists a contest on a 70% true shooting percentage.
LeBron James, Zion Williamson, Stephen Curry and Luka Doncic will join Jokic from the west in the starting All-Star lineup. James and the top vote-getter from the east, Giannis Antetokounmpo, will be team captains and will draft which players will play for each team just ahead of the 2023 game on Feb. 19.
The reserves will be announced next Thursday. Aaron Gordon is the only other Nuggets player with a real chance to make the exhibition. Gordon is having a career year, scoring 17 points, grabbing seven rebounds and helping with over two assists per game on 63% true shooting. If the Nuggets hold the best record in the West on Feb. 5, Michael Malone will coach one of the teams.
Only Hall of Famer Alex English has represented the Nuggets at the All-Star Game more times than Jokic. English was named an All-Star eight times.
Jokic is vying to become the league’s first back-to-back-to-back MVP since Larry Bird in the 1980s. Jokic has competed in the skills competition at All-Star weekend before but his status for those events is currently unknown. He has sat out three of the last four Nuggets games with a hamstring injury.
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