With February fast approaching, the NBA All-Star game isn’t too far out now and the voting has already begun for the starting lineups. In the first return of the votes, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo built a strong lead over the field. In the latest return of votes, their place remains unchanged as does most of the names near the top.
LeBron and Giannis have the lead by hundreds of thousands and Antetokounmpo is the overall leading candidate so far with a total of 3,475,698 votes to his name. In the backcourt, Luka Doncic and Tyrese Haliburton also hold their leads at the position but Stephen Curry could close the gap before it’s all said and done. All-in-all, it’s a very interesting return for the All-Star voting and it’ll be interesting to see how the voting trends change over the next few weeks. For now, though, it’s clear that LeBron James and the Greek Freak are still number one and two when it comes to being the face of the league.
A Tight Race In The West Frontcourt
Despite being the reigning NBA champion and the 2023 Finals MVP, Nikola Jokic is currently losing the All-Star race to 39-year-old LeBron James and he could fall to third with Suns star Kevin Durant only a few thousand points behind. This season, Jokic has been fantastic as usual with averages of 25.5 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 9.2 assists per game on 57.4% shooting.
Durant has been fine enough for the Suns, but their mediocre record so far doesn’t bode well for his All-Star campaign. At this point, Durant is almost surely set to start in the game but this could very well be his final run in the All-Star starting lineup with a couple of young risers biting at his heels. Either way, it’s clear that as long as LeBron James is still active in the NBA, he’ll always be one of the two leading vote-getters and that’s likely how it will be until he decides to hang it up for good.
Rising Stars In The East
In the middle of another MVP season, it’s no surprise that Giannis Antetokounmpo has amassed almost four million votes and it’s hard to see anybody beating him out at this point. Even so, some interesting trends are developing on this side of the league. In the backcourt, Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton has acquired the most votes so far with 2,192,810 according to the last count. He put the world on notice during the in-season tournament, and he’s seeing that work rewarded with some recognition by the fans. Lurking just a few spots behind Haliburton is 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey, who is the early favorite for Most Improved Player. His breakout campaign in Philadelphia has set the league on fire and his play has put Philly in a position to win it all this season.
No matter where you look, the NBA is full of interesting storylines and trends that reveal more about the state of the game today. This year, we are seeing a refreshing mix of veteran stars and young talent that should serve to make the game very interesting. Over time, however, the All-Star roster will become almost unrecognizable as players enter and leave All-Star status.
