LeBron, Irving lead in NBA's first All-Star Game voting returns

LeBron James and Kyrie Irving of the defending NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers are the top two vote-getters overall, while Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors lead all Western Conference players in the first fan returns of NBA All-Star Voting 2017 presented by Verizon.

The first week of fan voting for the 66th NBA All-Star Game, which will take place on Sunday, Feb. 19 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, produced close races in both conferences and generated 138% more votes cast (11,174,153) than during the same time period last year (4,693,433).

For the first time ever, NBA players and basketball media will join fans in selecting the starters for the NBA All-Star Game.  Fans will account for 50 percent of the vote, while all current players and a media panel will account for 25 percent each.  Player and media voting will begin next week, with each participant completing one full ballot featuring two guards and three frontcourt players from both conferences.

After all votes are tallied, players will be ranked in each conference by position (guard and frontcourt) within each of the three voting groups – fan votes, player votes and media votes.  Each player’s score will be calculated by averaging his weighted rank from the fan votes, the player votes and the media votes.  The five players (two guards and three frontcourt players) with the best score in each conference will be named NBA All-Star Game starters.  Fan voting will serve as the tiebreaker for players in a position group with the same score.

NBA ALL-STAR VOTING 2017

Eastern Conference

Frontcourt

  1. LeBron James (CLE) 595,288
  2. Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL) 500,663
  3. Kevin Love (CLE) 250,347
  4. Joel Embiid (PHI) 221,984
  5. Carmelo Anthony (NY) 189,817
  6. Jimmy Butler (CHI) 189,066
  7. Kristaps Porzingis (NY) 184,166
  8. Paul George (IND) 138,332
  9. Hassan Whiteside (MIA) 72,628
  10. Jabari Parker (MIL) 64,141

Guards

  1. Kyrie Irving (CLE) 543,030
  2. Dwyane Wade (CHI) 278,052
  3. DeMar DeRozan (TOR) 253,340
  4. Isaiah Thomas (BOS) 193,297
  5. Derrick Rose (NY) 129,924
  6. Kyle Lowry (TOR) 128,940
  7. John Wall (WAS) 87,360
  8. Jeremy Lin (BKN) 59,562
  9. Kemba Walker (CHA) 52,122
  10. Avery Bradley (BOS) 32,822

Western Conference

Frontcourt

  1. Kevin Durant (GS) 541,209
  2. Zaza Pachulia (GS) 439,675
  3. Kawhi Leonard (SA) 341,240
  4. Anthony Davis (NO) 318,144
  5. Draymond Green (GS) 236,315
  6. DeMarcus Cousins (SAC) 202,317
  7. Karl-Anthony Towns (MIN) 125,278
  8. LaMarcus Aldridge (SA) 101,724
  9. Blake Griffin (LAC) 100,524
  10. Marc Gasol (MEM) 97,370

Guards

  1. Stephen Curry (GS) 523,597
  2. James Harden (HOU) 519,446
  3. Russell Westbrook (OKC) 501,652
  4. Klay Thompson (GS) 293,054
  5. Chris Paul (LAC) 173,830
  6. Damian Lillard (POR) 117,857
  7. Eric Gordon (HOU) 76,609
  8. Manu Ginobili (SA) 65,832
  9. Andre Iguodala (GS) 64,247
  10. Zach LaVine (MIN) 53,642