James, Durant lead in NBA All-Star starter voting

NEW YORK (AP) — Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James and Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant may be headed for yet another NBA All-Star Game rematch.

James has been the overall leader in All-Star voting so far, and Durant has led all of the Eastern Conference players in early voting and is on track to become an All-Star captain for the third year in a row.

James topped the list of Western Conference frontcourt players with 3,168,694 votes on Thursday. Denver’s Nikola Jokic is his second (2,237,768) and Lakers’ Anthony Davis is his third (2,063,325).

Durant leads the Eastern Conference frontcourt players with 3,118,545 votes. This is slightly ahead of Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo (2,998,327) and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid (2,226,712).

Golden State’s Stephen Curry leads all guards in the voting with 2,715,520 votes. Luka Doncic of Dallas finished second among the West Guards with 2,388,502 votes.

Among the East Guards, Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving leads with 2,071,715 votes, while Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell is second with 1,637,374 votes.

The top three frontcourt players and top two guards in each conference are selected as starters, and the top overall vote-getter in each conference selects the team as captain.

50% of starter votes are fan votes, 25% are media votes and the remaining 25% are votes by NBA players.

James has captained all five previous uses of that process, going 5-0 in the All-Star Game. His team beat Durant’s pick in 2020 and 2021, Antetokounmpo’s pick in 2018 and 2019, and Curry’s pick in 2017.

Voting continues until January 21st. Captains and starters will be announced on his January 26th. The reserve selected by NBA coaches will be announced on his February 2nd, and the game he will play on February 19th in Salt Lake City.

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