The second count of votes for this year’s NBA All-Star game, which is scheduled to be played inside The Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana on Sunday, February 19th, are in. LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers superstar small forward and Kyrie Irving are leading the Cavs in the Eastern Conference while Golden State Warriors guard, Stephen Curry, is leading the tally in the West.
James, who has made 12 prior NBA All-Star Game appearances (2005-2016), is having one of his best statistical years as a professional basketball player, averaging 26.1 points (team-high), 8.1 assists (second-highest assist average of his career), and 7.9 rebounds per game. The King currently leads all candidates with 1,066,147 votes. Surprisingly closer to James than expected is Mikwaukee Bucks forward, Giannis Antetokounmpo (963,110), followed by James’ Cavs’ teammate, Kevin Love (473,328).
Kyrie Irving, Cavaliers star point guard, is currently pacing the Eastern Conference back-court race with 971,362 votes. Dwyane Wade, now playing with the Chicago Bulls and also a multi-time All-Star, trails Irving with 514,866 votes. Behind Wade is Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan with 453,538 votes.
Looking at the Western Conference, Curry, who is also a former All-Star (2014-16), is leading the charge with 990,390 votes. Houston Rockets guard, James Harden, pulled in 961,685 votes, placing him just behind Curry amongst Western Conference back-court vote-getters.
Kevin Durant, who has made seven NBA All-Star Game appearances (2010-16), leads the Western Conference front-court race with 987,479 votes, while Zaza Pachulia, Durant’s Warriors teammate, received 823,376 votes.
This year, fans will account for 50% of the vote that determines the 10 starters for each team. The remainder of the vote will be taken from current NBA players and a select group of media, accounting for 25% each. Voting for fans, players, and media will conclude on January 16th. TNT will announce starters for each team on January 19th.