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Tim BontempsESPN
Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James led the first round of fan voting for this year’s NBA All-Star Game.
The update was released by the NBA on Thursday afternoon.
Durant, who missed all of last season — his first as a member of the Nets — with a torn Achilles tendon, led all players with 2,302,705 votes, slightly ahead of James’ 2,288,676, the top total in the Western Conference.
Stephen Curry (2.11 million) was the only player besides Durant and James to exceed 2 million votes, and as a result was the runaway leader for the top spot among West guards. Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (1.39 million) was second, followed by Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (998,853) in third.
Durant was followed in the East’s frontcourt by Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo (1.75 million votes) and Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (1.58 million), with the three of them well ahead of Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (822,151) in fourth.
Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal, the NBA’s leading scorer, led all East backcourt players with nearly 1.3 million votes, and was closely followed by Durant’s fellow stars in Brooklyn: James Harden (1,093,611) and Kyrie Irving (1,014,763).
Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown, Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine and Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young were a distant fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.
In the West, James was followed in the frontcourt by Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (1.47 million), LA Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (1.28 million) and Lakers teammate Anthony Davis (1.19 million), with Leonard’s teammate Paul George a distant fifth.
All-Star voting began on Jan. 28, with fans able to vote either via the NBA’s website, its app or on Twitter, and will continue through Feb. 16. The All-Star starters — which are determined through fan voting (which accounts for 50 percent of the vote), media voting (25 percent) and player voting (25 percent) — will be announced on TNT on Feb. 18. The reserves — which are voted on by the NBA’s coaches — will be announced on TNT on Feb. 23.