2017 NBA All-Star Voting kicks off on Christmas

New Orleans hosts the 2017 NBA All-Star Game

There will be a new wrinkle with regards to voting in the NBA All-Game.

Presented by Verizon, casting of ballots for the midseason basketball classic will begin on 11am ET on Christmas (12am December 26 Manila time), before the banner quintuple-header slate of games tips off.

In previous editions, only fans were given the right to select the All-Star Game starters, a tradition that started in the 1974-75 season. The upcoming edition now adds two key constituents to the voting process, in the form of the NBA players and the NBA media.

Each of the two new elements account for 25 percent of the vote, while the fans will account for the remaining 50 percent.

The same procedure remains, every one will have to complete a ballot for each conference, featuring three frontcourt players and two backcourt players. Players will have the chance to vote themselves or their teammates in, if they so choose.

As for the fans, they have a multitude of options as to how they can cast their vote. One can a vote per day on these different platforms:

• NBA.com: Through NBA.com/vote, one can fill out a full ballot every 24 hours.
• NBA app: Available on both Android and iOS, one can pick their fave players every 24 hours.
• Twitter: Along with the hashtag #NBAVOTE, send either a tweet, retweet, or reply with a NBA player's first and last name, or his Twitter handle. One has a daily limit of ten unique players during this voting period.
• Facebook: One can post the player's first and last name, as well as the hashtag #NBAVOTE as a status on their Facebook page, or as a comment on a post. Same as Twitter, a daily limit of ten unique players during this voting period is invoked.
• Google Search: Type in "NBA Vote All-Star" or "NBA Vote *insert team name*" (i.e. NBA Vote Celtics) on the search bar, and there will be a means for fans to pick their fave players. Maximum of ten unique players daily can be voted in during the entire period.

In addition, Chinese fans can also cast their votes through Sina Weibo and Tencent Microblogs.

Updates on the Fan Vote will be made available on January 5 and January 12 (January 6 and 13, Manila time), with the deadline to being 1159pm on January 16 (1159am January 17, Manila time).

The NBA All-Star Starters reveal will be made on 7pm ET January 19 (8am January 20), during a special edition of the NBA Tip-Off presented by Autotrader.com, which takes place before the TNT doubleheader of the Washington Wizards vs New York Knicks and the Minnesota Timberwolves vs LA Clippers. The NBA All-Star reserves, which are selected by the NBA head coaches, will take place the following week.