By Jimmy Carlton Sportswriter Published Jan 10, 2018 at 7:02 PM

From 2005 until 2017, the Milwaukee Bucks had zero players selected to the NBA All-Star Game. Then, last season, Giannis Antetokounmpo was not only selected, he was voted in by his adoring fans as a starter, the franchise’s first in more than 30 years. Oh, how things have changed.

This season, Antetokounmpo is leading the league in All-Star votes, a shoo-in to be chosen again as a starter. And under the new All-Star Game format this year, the vote winner in each conference gets to pick his team from a select pool of reserves, playground-style. Last week, the Greek Freak was asked who he would pick first if he was the captain.

"Hopefully, (Bucks guards Khris Middleton and Eric Bledsoe) can be part of it, and I’m going to be able to vote my teammates into the game," Antetokounmpo said. "If my teammates are available, I’m going with my teammates.

"But if not, I've got to go with LeBron James, the best player in the world, so we can have a good relationship for the free agency. You never know, he might come play here."

James certainly would be a solid first pick, but the Bucks are doing everything they can to grant Antetokounmpo's wish and give him the opportunity to choose his teammates. The organization branded the trio "EKG" – for their first names – and has made a strong push for Middleton and Bledsoe to join Antetokounmpo, on Wednesday dropping a new promotional video: EKG, The Heartbeat of Milwaukee.

While Antetokounmpo, the uber-popular prankster, dominates Bucks box scores, Middleton and Bledsoe have put up worthy stat lines, as well. Middleton is second on the team in scoring, averaging 20.3 points, along with 5.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. Bledsoe, who was acquired in a trade with the Suns in December, is averaging 18.0 points, 4.3 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game.

For the second straight year, NBA players and basketball media join fans in selecting the All-Star Game starters. Fans account for 50 percent of the vote, while all current players and a media panel account for 25 percent each. There are numerous ways for fans to cast their All-Star ballots, including on NBA.com and the NBA App, Facebook, Twitter and Google. Check out the Bucks website for more information.

The next fan vote update will be shared on Jan. 11, and voting concludes on Jan. 15.

Jimmy Carlton Sportswriter

Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.

After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.

Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.