LeBron James and Stephen Curry are ranked third in the NBA’s first round of All-Star voting, which was announced Thursday afternoon. This is the latest indication of a shift in the association’s history.
James has a healthy lead over Los Angeles Lakers teammate Anthony Davis and San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama, who each have over 900,000 votes cast, for the third and final starting spot. James has 1.17 million votes, which puts him third overall in the West front court voting—still in a starting spot—behind Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (1.4 million) and Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant (1.27 million).
Curry of Golden State, meanwhile, may be coming off the bench for the second consecutive year out west as he trails Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic, whose 870,071 votes are roughly 60,000 more than Curry’s, and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has 1.05 million votes.
However, because to Doncic’s calf strain, which will keep him out for several weeks, Curry may be able to return to the starting lineup for his home All-Star Game in San Francisco in February.
With 1.7 million votes submitted so far this year, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo is topping all vote-getters in the East. Last year, he broke James’ seven-year streak as the top vote-getter. With little over one million votes, Karl-Anthony Towns of the New York Knicks took third place, followed by Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics (1.38 million), who is expected to make his sixth consecutive All-Star Game.
Those three are in a solid position to finish the voting in those three slots because no other East frontcourt player has even half a million votes.
The closest battle of all the position groups comes in the East backcourt, where LaMelo Ball, with just under a million votes, is in first, but Donovan Mitchell of the NBA-leading Cleveland Cavaliers is just 13,000 votes ahead of Bucks guard Damian Lillard for the second starting spot in the East.
Jalen Brunson is in fourth with just under 500,000 votes, and Trae Young is fifth with just over 350,000.
Voting totals will be updated again Jan. 9 and Jan. 16, with voting concluding on Monday, Jan. 20. Fan voting makes up 50% of the voting when it comes to who starts, with media and player voting accounting for 25% each.
The starters for both conferences will be announced Jan. 23, and the reserves will be unveiled a week later.
With 1.7 million votes submitted so far this year, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo is topping all vote-getters in the East. Last year, he broke James’ seven-year streak as the top vote-getter. With little over one million votes, Karl-Anthony Towns of the New York Knicks took third place, followed by Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics (1.38 million), who is expected to make his sixth consecutive All-Star Game.
Those three are in a solid position to finish the voting in those three slots because no other East frontcourt player has even half a million votes.
LaMelo Ball leads the East backcourt with just under a million votes, but Donovan Mitchell of the NBA-leading Cleveland Cavaliers is only 13,000 votes ahead of Bucks guard Damian Lillard for the second starting place in the East. This is the most closely contested position group.
With just less than 500,000 votes, Jalen Brunson is in fourth place, and Trae Young is in fifth place with slightly more than 350,000.
Voting will end on Monday, January 20, and the overall number of votes will be updated once more on January 9 and January 16. When it comes to starting, media and player votes account for 25% of the total, while fan voting makes up 50%.
The reserves will be revealed a week after the starting for both conferences are announced on January 23.
