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Tim BontempsESPN
LeBron James maintained his hold on the top spot in the third and final round of public voting results for the 2020 NBA All-Star Game, the NBA announced Thursday afternoon.
The Lakers star remained ahead of emerging Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic and reigning NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo for the top spot in balloting with 4,747,887 total votes. Doncic (4,598,323), Antetokounmpo (4,474,107) and the Lakers’ Anthony Davis (4,412,619) are the only players with more than 4 million votes.
This is the final time before the final results are announced that the league will release the vote totals. Voting will close at 11:59 p.m. on Monday night, with the All-Star starters, including the two team captains – the starter to receive the most fan votes from each conference – being announced on Jan. 23 on TNT. The league will announce the reserves, who are chosen by the league’s head coaches, on Jan. 30.
Milwaukee’s Antetokounmpo is virtually assured of being the East’s captain, as he has almost twice as many votes as Toronto’s Pascal Siakam (2,433,411) among all Eastern Conference players. If James can hang on to his slim lead over Doncic, he will be the West’s captain.
Fan voting accounts for 50 percent of the vote for the five starters — two backcourt and three frontcourt players — from each conference. The other 50 percent is split evenly among voting by media members and the players themselves.
Doncic holds the top spot among Western Conference guards, followed by Houston star James Harden (2,934,614). No other West guard has even a million votes, with Portland’s Damian Lillard (984,140) third, Lakers guard Alex Caruso (894,827) fourth, Houston’s Russell Westbrook (837,187) fifth and Golden State’s Stephen Curry (819,352) sixth.
James and Davis lead Western Conference frontcourt players, with the Clippers‘ Kawhi Leonard (2,973,076) remaining in third. Leonard’s teammate, Paul George, is a distant fourth with 1,171,616 votes, followed by Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Portland’s Carmelo Anthony and Dallas’ Kristaps Porzingis.
Beyond Antetokounmpo leading the way among East frontcourt players, Siakam is less than 35,000 votes ahead of Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (2,398,743) among frontcourt players, with Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler (2,046,257) in fourth. Boston Celtics teammates Jayson Tatum and rookie center Tacko Fall are fifth and sixth, respectively, with Heat center Bam Adebayo in seventh.
Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young was first among East backcourt players for a third straight week with 2,066,924 votes, followed closely by Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving (1,814,618) in second and Kemba Walker (1,797,633) in third.
Detroit Pistons guard Derrick Rose (1,381,934) is the only other East guard with over one million votes.