Giannis, LeBron leading in 2nd fan returns of NBA All-Star Voting

By Can Erozden

Milwaukee Bucks' Greek forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (Eastern Conference frontcourt) and Los Angeles Lakers' US forward LeBron James (Western Conference frontcourt) continue to each lead in NBA All-Star voting before next month's All-Star Game.

Antetokounmpo has received more than 3.4 million votes while LeBron has nearly 3.1 million votes as the two superstars were atop the second round of voting, the NBA said in a statement Thursday.

Denver Nuggets' Serbian center Nikola Jokic (West frontcourt) took 2.777 million votes to be second, while Phoenix Suns' Kevin Durant is chasing him closely with 2.773 million votes.

There is a quite similar race for second place in the East frontcourt between Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid and Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum.

Second-place Embiid had 2.975 million votes to be over Tatum, who received 2.939 million votes.

Dallas Mavericks' Slovenian star Luka Doncic had at least 2.5 million votes to keep leading the West guards' list.

Doncic, and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors were both over 2 million votes.

Indiana Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton, who is still on top of the East guard standings, took nearly 2.2 million votes. He is the only East guard with over 2 million votes.

Houston Rockets' Turkish center Alperen Sengun, an NBA player since 2021, improved to sixth spot in the frontcourt of the Western Conference as the 21-year-old bagged 950,959 votes.

The next fan voting update will be on Thursday, Jan. 18, and the voting will end on Saturday, Jan. 20. This year's All-Star Game starters will be named on Thursday, Jan. 25.

The 73rd NBA All-Star Game will be played on Feb. 18 in Indianapolis.