The Miami Heat will almost definitely need a player voted in as a reserve to be represented in this season’s NBA All-Star Game.
The initial returns of fan balloting for the 2026 All-Star Game released by the league on Monday was further evidence of that, as only one Heat player was among the Eastern Conference’s top 20 vote-getters. Fans account for 50 percent of the vote to determine the five players from each conference honored as starters for the Feb. 15 NBA All-Star Game, which will take place at Intuit Dome in the Los Angeles area.
Heat guard Norman Powell came in at 18th among East players with 100,390 fan votes. There are no other Heat players on the East’s top-20 list for the first returns of fan voting.
The 20 East players with the most votes are: No. 1 Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, No. 2 Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey, No. 3 New York’s Jalen Brunson, No. 4 Detroit’s Cade Cunningham, No. 5 Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell, No. 6 Boston’s Jaylen Brown, No. 7 New York’s Karl-Anthony Towns, No. 8 Atlanta’s Jalen Johnson, No. 9 Indiana’s Pascal Siakam, No. 10 Brooklyn’s Michael Porter Jr., No. 11 Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball, No. 12 Toronto’s Brandon Ingram, No. 13 New York’s OG Anunoby, No. 14 Chicago’s Josh Giddey, No. 15 New York’s Mikal Bridges, No. 16 New York’s Josh Hart, No. 17 Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, No. 18 Powell, No. 19 Orlando’s Paolo Banchero and No. 20 Orlando’s Franz Wagner.
Powell, who has never been selected for an NBA All-Star Game, enters Monday night’s matchup against the Denver Nuggets at Kaseya Center averaging a career-high 23.7 points per game on 47.6 percent shooting from the field and 39.9 percent on seven three-point attempts per game in his first season with the Heat.
“It’s always been a goal of mine since I was a kid,” Powell said earlier this month of what it would mean to him to be named an NBA All-Star for the first time in his career. “But a lot of that stuff is out of my control. I know a lot of people have talked about it since last year. People have talked about it this year. My job is to go out there and play the best brand of basketball that I know I’m capable of playing and helping the team get wins and get back on track.
“Obviously, individual accolades are great, and you want that. But if it doesn’t happen, it’s not going to make or break me. I know what I mean to my team. I know what guys and my fellow peers think of me around the league. So I think that’s more valuable than if I actually make it.”
All-Stars are being selected this season without regard to position. Voting for fans will conclude Jan. 14.
Under a new NBA All-Star Game format, two teams of U.S. players and one team of international players (the World team) will compete in a round-robin tournament featuring four 12-minute games for this season’s showcase event.
So, how exactly are the 24 NBA All-Stars (12 from each conference) determined?
While fans account for 50 percent of the vote to determine the five starters from each conference for the All-Star Game, all current NBA players and a media panel account for 25 percent apiece of the vote.
The seven players honored as All-Star Game reserves from each conference will be selected by NBA head coaches.
The process for assigning players to the two U.S. teams will be determined at a later date.
If NBA All-Star voting does not result in the selection of 16 U.S. players and eight international players (which can include American players with ties to other countries if necessary), then NBA commissioner Adam Silver will select additional All-Stars to join either group to reach that minimum. In that case, at least one team would have more than eight players.
The timing of the All-Star roster announcements are still being determined.
Guard Tyler Herro was the only player to represent the Heat in last season’s All-Star Game, getting in as an East reserve. The Heat has been represented by at least one player in four straight All-Star games, with the last time that the Heat had no All-Stars selected coming in the 2021 showcase game.