The NBA’s first round of All-Star voting was released Thursday afternoon, and in the latest sign of a transition in eras in The Association, both LeBron James and Stephen Curry rank third at their respective positions.
James sits third overall in the West frontcourt voting — still in a starting spot — with 1.17 million votes, sitting behind Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, with 1.4 million votes, and Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant, with 1.27 million, though James has a healthy lead for the third and final starting spot over his Lakers teammate, Anthony Davis, and San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama, who are both over 900,000 votes cast.
Curry, meanwhile, could be finding himself coming off the bench for a second straight year out West, as he sits behind Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (1.05 million votes) and Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (870,071), putting him about 60,000 votes ahead of Curry for third.
Doncic, however, is out for the next several weeks with a calf strain, which could allow Curry to get himself back in the mix to start in his home All-Star Game in San Francisco in February.
In the East, meanwhile, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo — after snapping James’ seven-year streak as the top vote getter overall last year — is leading all vote getters again this year with 1.7 million votes cast thus far. He is followed by Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (1.38 million), who is on course to make his sixth consecutive All-Star Game, while New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns had the third starting spot with just over 1 million votes.
No other East frontcourt player has even half a million votes, putting those three in very strong position to finish the voting in those three spots.
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, while Trae Young is fifth with just over 350,000.
Voting totals will be updated again on Jan. 9 and Jan. 16, with voting concluding on Monday, Jan. 20. Fan voting makes up 50 percent of the voting when it comes to who starts, with media and player voting each accounting for another 25 percent.
The starters for both conferences will be announced on Jan. 23, and the reserves will be unveiled a week later.