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| Giannis Antetokounmpo leads in the partial All-Star balloting results, but LeBron James is closely behind. |
By Dugout Philippines
NEW YORK–The Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo, who made his NBA All-Star Game debut last season, is the leading vote-getter in the first fan returns of NBA All-Star Voting 2018 presented by Verizon.
Antetokounmpo received 863,416 votes to edge the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James (856,080) by 7,336 votes for the top spot in the Eastern Conference and overall after the first 12 days of fan voting.
In the Western Conference, the Golden State Warriors’ Kevin Durant leads with 767,402 votes and teammate Stephen Curry is next with 735,115 – a difference of 32,287 votes.
The 67th NBA All-Star Game will take place on Monday, Feb. 19 (Philippine Time) at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
TNT will televise the midseason showcase at 9 a.m., marking Turner Sports’ 33rd year of NBA All-Star coverage.
Joining Antetokounmpo and James, a 13-time All-Star, at the top of the Eastern Conference frontcourt are Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers (433,161) and Kristaps Porzingis of the New York Knicks (359,459).
Four-time All-Star Kyrie Irving of the Boston Celtics leads among East guards with 802,834 votes, followed by three-time All-Star DeMar DeRozan of the Toronto Raptors (259,368) and Victor Oladipo of the Indiana Pacers (251,886).
Durant, the reigning Finals MVP, is joined at the top of the West frontcourt by two members of the New Orleans Pelicans, 2017 NBA All-Star Game MVP Anthony Davis (393,000) and three-time All-Star DeMarcus Cousins (356,340), followed by the Warriors’ Draymond Green (325,612).
In voting for the West guards, Curry is followed by the Houston Rockets’ James Harden (602,040) and reigning Kia NBA MVP Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder (438,469).
Under a new All-Star Game format that replaces the traditional matchup between the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference, the team rosters will be chosen by two captains from the pool of players voted as starters and reserves.
The captains will be the All-Star starter from each conference who receives the most fan votes in his conference
TNT will reveal the All-Star Game starters, including the two captains, on Friday, Jan. 19 (Philippine Time) during TNT NBA Tip-Off presented by Autotrader at 7 a.m., featuring Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith.
The network will announce the reserves, as selected by NBA head coaches, on Wednesday, Jan. 24 (Philippine Time) during TNT NBA Tip-Off at 8 a.m. The team rosters will be revealed on Friday, Jan. 26 (Philippine Time) during a special one-hour edition of TNT NBA Tip-Off at 8 a.m.
For the second consecutive year, NBA players and basketball media will join fans in selecting the All-Star Game starters.
Fans will account for 50 percent of the vote, while all current players and a media panel will account for 25 percent each.
Players and select media will be able to complete one full ballot, featuring three frontcourt players and two guards each from both the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference.
After all votes are tallied, players will be ranked in each conference by position (guard and frontcourt) within each of the three voting groups – fan votes, player votes and media votes.
Each player’s score will be calculated by averaging his weighted rank from the fan votes, the player votes and the media votes.
The five players (two guards and three frontcourt players) with the best score in each conference will be named NBA All-Star Game starters.
Fan voting will serve as the tiebreaker for players in a position group with the same score.
The next fan voting update will be shared on Friday, Jan. 12 (Philippine Time). Voting will conclude on Tuesday, Jan. 16 at 12:59 p.m. (Philippine Time).
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