The NBA released the second returns of fan votes for the 66th All-Star game last January 12th and very little has changed. What is evident is the fact that with over 21 million votes so far, the total votes cast have saw a 142 percent increase compared to the same point in the previous year.
LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers leads the Easter Conference Frontcourt with 1,066,147 votes, followed by Giannis Antetokounmpo (963,110) of the Bucks and teammate Kevin Love (473,328). Joel Embiid and Jimmy Butler are closely behind with 457,300 and 400,448 votes respectively. James' teammate, Kyrie Irving, leads the Easter Conference Backcourt with 971,362 votes, followed by Dwyane Wade (514,886) of the Bulls and DeMar DeRozan (453,538) of the Raptors.
In the Western Conference, last year's second leading vote-getter, Stephen Curry, leads the Western Conference with 990,390 votes. He is followed by the Rocket's James Harden (961,685) and the Thunder's Russell Westbrook (899,024). Golden State Warrior's teammates Kevin Durant and Zaza Pachulia are leading the FrontCourt players with 987,479 and 823,376 votes respectively. Kawhi Leonard (630,766) is in third and Anthony Davis (567,201) is fourth. Top 10 vote-getters for each Conference as per the second vote returns can be seen on NBA.com.
If the voting holds, 6 of the 10 starters will come from the top two teams the previous year with Curry, Durant, and Pachulia from the Warriors and James, Irving, and Love from the Cavaliers. However, the fans do not have complete say in who will start in the All-star game so there could be some last minute changes when the starters are announced. According to a sample computation done by Fox Sports, even if you have 100-times more votes than the second leading vote-getter, there is still a chance that you will not make it as a starter.
As per the All-star game's official website, the fan votes will only have a 50% weight this year as all active players and members of the media will each have a 25% say in the starters. Players and the media will each be able to submit one full ballot with 3 frontcourt and 2 backcourt players for each Conference. Voting ends on January 16th and the final results for the starters will be announced on the 19th and the reserves on the 26th.
