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Tim BontempsESPN
Brooklyn Nets striker Kevin Durant and Los Angeles Lakers striker LeBron James led the first round of fan votes for this year’s NBA All-Star game.
The update was released by the NBA on Thursday afternoon.
Durant, who lost all of last season – his first as a member of the Nets – with a broken Achilles tendon, led all players with 2,302,705 votes, slightly ahead of James’ 2,288,676, the best 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 fugitive leader for first place among Western guards. Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic (1.39 million) came in second, followed by Portland Trail Blazers owner Damian Lillard (998,853) in third.
Durant was followed on the east attacking court by Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo (1.75 million votes) and Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (1.58 million), with the three well ahead of the Boston striker Celtics Jayson Tatum (822,151) in fourth place.
Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal, the NBA’s top scorer, led all defense players in the East with almost 1.3 million votes, and was closely followed by other Durant stars in Brooklyn: James Harden (1,093,611) and Kyrie Irving (1,014,763).
Boston Celtics’ Jaylen Brown, Chicago Bulls’ Zach LaVine and Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young were in a distant fourth, fifth and sixth place, respectively.
In the west, James was followed on the attacking court by Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (1.47 million), LA Clippers striker Kawhi Leonard (1.28 million) and Lakers teammate Anthony Davis (1.19 million) ), with Leonard’s teammate Paul George in a distant fifth place.
The All-Star voting started on January 28, with fans able to vote on the NBA website, their app or on Twitter, and will continue until February 16. All-Star Starters – which are determined through fan voting (which accounts for 50 percent of votes), media voting (25 percent) and player voting (25 percent) – will be announced on TNT on 18 of February. The reservations – which are voted on by NBA coaches – will be announced on TNT on February 23.