Damian Lillard reacts in 5-words to Giannis Antetokounmpo’s latest All-Star petition

After the second fan-voting return for the 2024-25 NBA All-Star Game, Damian Lillard is sitting in third place for Eastern Conference guards behind LaMelo Ball and Donovan Mitchell. As the Milwaukee guard looks to pick up his ninth All-Star selection, Bucks frontman Giannis Antetokounmpo has urged fans to vote.

In a post on his Instagram story Thursday morning, The Greek Freak posted a picture of himself and Lillard on-court, urging fans to go vote for his Milwaukee co-star.

In response, Lillard posted Antetokounmpo's story on his own story, adding:

"Turn me up sir lol"

Damian Lillard (@damianlillard) - Instagram

Lillard sits just over 161,500 votes outside of second place, while Antetokounmpo leads not only the Eastern Conference Frontcourt voting but also all players across the league when it comes to fan voting.

Starters for both teams are selected based on votes from fans, NBA players and the media. Reserve players are then chosen based on votes from coaches around the league, with each conference selecting seven reserves.

Ahead of February's All-Star weekend, starters will be announced on Jan. 23 on TNT, with reserves then being announced on Jan. 30 during the network's TNT NBA Tip-Off show.

Looking at Damian Lillard's case for an All-Star selection this season

As previously mentioned, right now Damian Lillard sits in third place among Eastern Conference guards. With LaMelo Ball sitting nearly 500,000 votes ahead of Lillard, and more than 300,000 votes ahead of Donovan Mitchell, it looks like he will likely earn his second All-Star selection.

The question now becomes whether Damian Lillard can overtake Donovan Mitchell to guarantee his spot as an All-Star starter, or whether he has to hope for a spot as a reserve.

If the current standings hold up and Donovan Mitchell secures the second Eastern Conference starting guard spot, Lillard still has a strong case to clinch his ninth All-Star selection.

Lillard is averaging 24.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

At the same time, he's improved on both his field goal percentage and his 3-point percentage over last year, while helping lead Milwaukee to the fifth-place spot in the Eastern Conference despite a slow start to the season.

As indicated by fan votes, along with Lillard, both Jalen Brunson and Trae Young have cases to be selected as All-Star reserves for Eastern Conference guards. Brunson has helped lead the Knicks to the third-place spot in the East while averaging 25.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 7.6 assists on 47.7% from the floor.

In the case of Young, while the Hawks are sitting in ninth place in the East, Young is leading the league with 12.2 assists per game, a notable leap up from his 10.8 apg average last season. Additionally, Young is averaging 22.6 points and 1.3 steals per game on 40.1% from the floor.

Given that, while Damian Lillard has a strong case to be selected as an Eastern Conference guard, it's clear there's some tough competition.