LeBron James (Lakers), on the way to becoming the all-time leading scorer in the NBA, is leading fan votes for the All-Star Game, which will take place on February 19 in Salt Lake City, Utah, according to a first score unveiled Thursday.
Fifteen days after the opening of the vote, “LBJ” is the most popular with 3,168,694 votes collected. Kevin Durant, leading in the resurrection of the Brooklyn Nets, after a disastrous start to the season, follows with 3,118,545 votes. Which makes them, for the time being, the captains of their respective conferences, West for the first, East for the second.
James, failing for the moment to hope to play the leading roles for the play-offs because of the 12th place of the Lakers, sees inexorably approaching the most coveted record in the League, that of best scorer of the story. Unless prevented, at his own pace – he averages 29 points this season – he should overtake the legendary Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387 pts), in February even before the All-Star Game, where he could elsewhere record a 19th record participation, tied with its glorious elder.
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Behind him and Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee) points very close to the 3 million vote mark. Nikola Jokic, double MVP in title, follows a little further with 2,237,768 votes. If the current photograph does not change by January 21, the closing date for voting, Anthony Davis (Lakers), Stephen Curry (Golden State) and Luka Doncic (Dallas) will complete the West major five, alongside James and Jokic. In the East, Joel Embiid (Philadelphia), Kyrie Irving (Brooklyn) and Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland) are currently holders with Durant and Antetokounmpo.
Two players can upset this chessboard: Zion Williamson (New Orleans) and Jayson Tatum (Boston), respectively close to Davis and Embiid, can complete the interior sector at their expense in each conference. Rudy Gobert (Utah), selected in the last three editions among the substitutes, does not appear in the top 10 votes revealed by the NBA. The French pivot, who now plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves, is slightly below his best statistical averages (13.5 pts, 11.7 rebounds, 1.4 against average), and could suffer from it in the eyes of the coaches who will choose the bench players.
The fan vote represents 50% of the votes, the players 25% and the journalists 25%.
