Seven Kentucky players were NBA All-Stars in 2024. How many Cats will make it in 2025?

Last season was a remarkable one for Kentucky Wildcats in the NBA.

Seven former UK basketball players were among the 24 initial picks for the 2024 NBA All-Star Game, obliterating the previous record of four selections for a single school, which had been accomplished by Kentucky twice in recent years and UCLA once (back in 1983).

Each of the seven ex-Cats picked for last year’s game played for UK during the John Calipari era, and the now-former Kentucky coach attended the showcase in Indianapolis, posing on the court for a group photo with his players amid the festivities.

How many of Calipari’s former Cats will be selected this year?

It likely won’t be seven, but it’ll still be a lot — relative to other college programs, at least.

Let’s start with the shoo-ins.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is having a career season for the Oklahoma City Thunder — in his seventh year in the league — and is currently the favorite to earn the NBA MVP Award, an honor that has never gone to a former Kentucky Wildcat.

The latest round of NBA All-Star fan voting was released Thursday, and Gilgeous-Alexander is the top vote-getter among Western Conference guards, two of which will be picked as starters. The fan vote — open to anyone with an NBA ID, which is free — comprises 50% of the formula to select starters, with 25% each going to current NBA players and a media panel.

With fan voting scheduled to shut down Monday night, Gilgeous-Alexander is basically guaranteed to be named a starter when those picks are announced at 7 p.m. ET Thursday on TNT.

He could have some UK company among the starters.

Three frontcourt players from each conference will be selected as starters, and Karl-Anthony Towns held the No. 3 spot in the most recent update to the Eastern Conference fan vote, leading fourth-place Paolo Banchero by more than 1.4 million votes. Towns, who is in his first season with the New York Knicks, was chosen as an All-Star four times during his nine years with the Minnesota Timberwolves, though he has never been named an All-Star Game starter.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Anthony Davis was fifth in the latest round of Western Conference frontcourt voting, sitting behind Nikola Jokic, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Victor Wembanyama. It might be difficult for Davis to break into the top three once all the ballots are tabulated, but he and Towns both appear to be locks to make the NBA All-Star Game, whether or not they’re named starters.

That’s three former Kentucky Wildcats for the 2025 game. While there no other former UK players are clear-cut selections, several will be in the conversation to make it, with the full teams scheduled to be announced Jan. 30.

More Kentucky players as NBA All-Stars?

The four other former Wildcats — in addition to Davis, Gilgeous-Alexander and Towns — who were named to last year’s game: Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker, Tyrese Maxey and Julius Randle.

From that group, Booker and Maxey appear to be the most likely candidates.

Booker, now in his 10th season with the Phoenix Suns, is averaging 25.8 points and 6.7 assists per game coming out of the weekend, with his scoring and shooting numbers down a little from recent years. The Suns are also hovering around the .500 mark. He was ninth in the latest round of West backcourt voting.

Maxey has numbers comparable to last season and is leading the Philadelphia 76ers in points, assists and steals. He was sixth in the last round of East backcourt voting, but the Sixers have been one of the league’s biggest disappointments this season and are not on track to make the playoffs.

Booker and Maxey are iffy as repeat All-Stars — Booker has made it in four of the last five seasons — and neither Adebayo nor Randle are expected to be in the game again this year.

Anyone else?

De’Aaron Fox was widely viewed as one of the biggest snubs for last year’s game. Fox, who is among the best point guards in the league but has been an All-Star only once (2023), and his Sacramento Kings got off to a poor start to the season. Coach Mike Brown was fired after going 13-18 over the first 31 games, but the Kings have worked themselves back to .500 under Doug Christie.

Fox was eighth in West backcourt voting last week, and he’s likely sitting right around the cut line heading into next week’s All-Star reserves announcement. The league’s coaches will pick the 14 reserves.

A wild card to watch: Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro, who is in the middle of his best season ever as a pro. Herro, who turns 25 years old Monday, is averaging career highs across the board: 24.0 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game, while shooting 40.7% from 3-point range. He might not have done quite enough to make the team, but there’s been some buzz around a possible selection, and he’s likely sitting on the East backcourt bubble along with Maxey.

So, Kentucky should have at least three selections when those complete All-Star teams are announced. Duke (with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown as locks; Kyrie Irving and Jalen Johnson as possibilities) is the only other school that could seemingly reach that number.

And a few other former Wildcats are in the conversation for the Feb. 16 game in San Francisco.

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