LeBron James moves into overall All-Star voting lead

LeBron James of Los Angeles Lakers has passed Dallas’ Luka Doncic for overall and Western Conference lead in fan voting for Feb. 16 game in Chicago, with about a week and a half left in race. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo remains runaway leader in Eastern Conference voting.

game’s captains -- James and Antetokounmpo held jobs last year -- will be All-Star starters who receive most fan votes from his conference. James also was a captain first time format was used in 2018, n going up against a team picked by Golden State’s Stephen Curry.

Team LeBron beat Team Giannis last year, 178-164. Team LeBron also won inaugural edition of this All-Star setup, topping Team Stephen 148-145 in 2018 game.

James’ lead over Doncic was 82,001 votes, NBA said on Thursday when releasing second balloting update. James leads West frontcourt voting with 3,359,871, ahead of his Lakers teammate Anthony Davis (3,124,446) and Los Angeles Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard.

Doncic leads West guards with 3,277,870 votes, with Houston’s James Harden second with 2,167,269 votes.

In East, Antetokounmpo has nearly twice as many votes as anyone else. He sits atop East frontcourt balloting with 3,259,383 votes -- well ahead of Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid (1,784,211) and Toronto’s Pascal Siakam (1,730,763).

Atlanta’s Trae Young (1,389,628) leads voting among East guards, just ahead of Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving (1,351,997) and Boston’s Kemba Walker (1,331,577).

Or tables from first week of fan voting, which began on Christmas Day: Boston’s Tacko Fall remains sixth in East frontcourt balloting, Golden State’s Stephen Curry remains fourth in West guard vote so far despite being sidelined by injury, and Portland’s Carmelo Anthony is still holding . 8 spot in West frontcourt race.

Fan voting continues through Jan. 20. starters for game -- three frontcourt, two guards per team -- will be determined through a system that gives fans 50% of vote, players 25% and a media panel remaining 25%.

Starters and two player captains who will draft teams will be anunced on Jan. 23. reserves, who are selected by NBA coaches, will be revealed on Jan. 30.

Im Source: AP