Magic's Banchero, Wagner Stay in Top 10 of Second NBA All-Star Fan Vote Returns

The Orlando Magic's star frontcourt duo again appeared in the top 10 of NBA All-Star voting in the second fan returns released by the league on Thursday.

Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) and forward Franz Wagner (22) celebrate a score against the Philadelphia 76ers during the fourth quarter at Wells Fargo Center. / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

ORLANDO, Fla. – Orlando Magic forwards Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner maintained their top-10 standing in the second returns of NBA All-Star fan voting, which were released on Thursday afternoon by the league.

Banchero, the former 2022 No. 1 overall pick, Rookie of the Year and first-time All-Star last season, again checks in fourth among all Eastern Conference frontcourt players, tallying 788,502 votes.

That trails only Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo (2,721,339, leading vote-getter), Boston's Jayson Tatum (2,224,086) and New York's Karl-Anthony Towns (1,872,228).

Boston's Jaylen Brown (723,231) and Miami's Jimmy Butler (375,432) separate Banchero and Wagner, who checks in seventh with 347,434 votes.

Cleveland's Evan Mobley (294,256) and the Philadelphia duo of Joel Embiid (286,057) and Paul George (240,512) round out the top 10.

MORE: How to vote for Magic players to be NBA All-Stars this year

The full list of vote-getters for each conference is listed below:

Second fan returns for 2025 NBA All-Star voting. / NBA

While their standing has stayed the same, the distance between total votes has changed drastically. When the first returns were announced a week ago, Banchero only trailed Towns by ~600,000 votes. That margin is now well over a million.

Wagner, on the other hand, has closed the gap between he and Butler. After trailing by around 46,000 votes last Thursday, that gap has shrunk to under 30,000.

Banchero has missed more than two months after suffering a torn right oblique on Oct. 30 at Chicago. Five games into his third NBA season, Banchero was averaging 29.0 points, 8.8 rebounds and 5.6 assists in 36.4 minutes a night. He notched the NBA's first 50-point game on Oct. 28 versus Indiana.

He's missed 33 consecutive games, but is listed questionable for the first time since his injury ahead of Thursday night's matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Wagner is also out with a torn right oblique, an ailment he sustained Dec. 6 at Philadelphia. Wagner fulfilled the No.1. role in the Magic offense substantially in Banchero's absence, and he's averaging 24.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.7 assists through 25 games this season. He's missing his 14th consecutive game on Thursday night.

Fans account for 50 percent of the vote to determine starters for the All-Star game, which is under a new format this year. Current players and a media panel each account for 25 percent. Two guards and three frontcourt players compose the starters, although the format of the game is changed from previous years.

Fan voting does not play a factor into the selections of reserves.

The next fan voting update will release on Jan. 16, the league said. Voting closes on Jan. 20.

TNT will reveal the starters on Thursday, Jan. 23 and the reserves on Thursday, Jan. 30.

Previous Magic All-Stars

Nine Magic players have combined for 25 All-Star selections in the team's history (number of selections with team in parenthesis):

• Shaquille O'Neal (4x)
• Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway (4x)
• Grant Hill (2x)
• Tracy McGrady (3x)
• Dwight Howard (6x)
• Jameer Nelson (2009)
• Rashard Lewis (2009)
• Nikola Vucevic (2x)
• Paolo Banchero (2024)

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