Jokic, Antetokounmpo lead first round of NBA All-Star voting

Sports

VERSATILE big men Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets and Giannis Antetokounmpo are the frontrunners in the first round of the NBA All-Star voting.

In the East, Antetokounmpo, who snapped LeBron James' seven-year streak as the top vote-getter last year, is leading all vote-getters again this year with 1.7 million votes cast so far.

Antetokounmpo is followed in the frontcourt position in the East by Jayson Tatum (1.38 million), who is headed to a sixth consecutive All-Star Game.

The New York Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns was at third starting spot with just over 1 million votes.

Jokic is the top vote-getter in the West’s frontcourt poistion with 1.4 million votes. The Phoenix Suns’ Kevin Durant(1.27 million) ranks second followed by James, who has 1.1 milion votes.

Rounding up the top five vote-getters in the West are the Lakers’ Anthony Davis (999,540 votes) and rookie Victor Wembanyama (928,501) of the San Antonio Spurs.

For the guard position, Sha Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder leads the West with 1,053,683 votes fillowed by Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks and the Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry with 810,071 votes, respectively.

In the East, LaMelo Ball of the Charlotte Hornets leads the voting tally with 947,444 votes followed by Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Damian Lillard of Milwaukee with 718,084 and 704,914, respectively.

The All Star Game is scheduled next month in San Francisco. The All-Star voting will end on January 20. Fan voting makes up 50 percent of the voting when it comes to who starts, with media and player voting accounting for 25 percent each.

The starters for the East and West All-Star teams will be announced January 23, and the reserves will be unveiled a week later.(CCM)