If voting ended today (and the media votes agreed, which it likely would with these two), Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant would be the captains picking the All-Star teams.
Those two are the top vote-getters in their conferences as the first round of fan All-Star voting was released by the NBA. However, both of them have a second-place person very close behind them: LeBron James in the East (7,336 votes back) and Stephen Curry in the West (32,287 votes back).
For this year’s All-Star Game in Los Angeles Feb. 18, the NBA has thrown out the old East vs. West All-Star format that had gotten stale and went to a schoolyard drafting of teams format: The top vote-getters in each conference will be the captains and pick the teams. They can choose anyone from any conference — if Durant wanted to pick LeBron instead of Curry, he could. First, the captains will choose from the pool of eight other starters voted in by fans and select media (consider those media votes the Zaza Pachulia insurance, fans almost voted him as a starter last season but the media did not). The coaches will pick the seven reserves from each conference, and the captains will move on to picking from that pool.
There are three frontcourt and two guard starters for each conference. Here is where the first round of voting stands:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Frontcourt
1 Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL) 863,416
2 LeBron James (CLE) 856,080
3 Joel Embiid (PHI) 433,161
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4 Kristaps Porzingis (NYK) 359,459
5 Kevin Love (CLE) 221,969
6 Al Horford (BOS) 120,016
7 Jayson Tatum (BOS) 98,586
8 Andre Drummond (DET) 85,374
9 Enes Kanter (NYK) 83,102
10 Dwight Howard (CHA) 57,730
Guards
1 Kyrie Irving (BOS) 802,834
2 DeMar DeRozan (TOR) 259,368
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3 Victor Oladipo (IND) 251,886
4 Ben Simmons (PHI) 210,085
5 John Wall (WAS) 175,990
6 Dwyane Wade (CLE) 165,163
7 Isaiah Thomas (CLE) 87,680
8 Kyle Lowry (TOR) 85,070
9 Bradley Beal (WAS) 71,079
10 Jaylen Brown (BOS) 51,562
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Frontcourt
1 Kevin Durant (GSW) 767,402
2 Anthony Davis (NOP) 393,000
3 DeMarcus Cousins (NOP) 356,340
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4 Draymond Green (GSW) 325,612
5 Paul George (OKC) 291,495
6 Kawhi Leonard (SAS) 212,650
7 Carmelo Anthony (OKC) 194,239
8 Karl-Anthony Towns (MIN) 188,240
9 Kyle Kuzma (LAL) 184,338
10 LaMarcus Aldridge (SAS) 153,599
Guards
1 Stephen Curry (GSW) 735,115
2 James Harden (HOU) 602,040
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3 Russell Westbrook (OKC) 438,469
4 Klay Thompson (GSW) 359,442
5 Manu Ginobili (SAS) 231,460
6 Chris Paul (HOU) 174,343
7 Damian Lillard (POR) 148,622
8 Lonzo Ball (LAL) 120,817
9 Devin Booker (PHO) 91,562
10 Jimmy Butler (MIN) 88,009
Both Pelicans’ big men Davis and Cousins would start with the Warriors’ Green and the Thunders’ George on the outside looking in. With the West guards, Westbrook would be the guy coming off the bench with Curry and Harden starting (hard to go wrong with any order there). In the East, Sixers rookie Embiid would get the nod over the Knicks’ Porzingis.
Voting runs through midnight on Jan. 15. Fans can vote on the NBA.com voting page, through the NBA app, on Facebook (post the player’s first and last name along with the hashtag #NBAVOTE on your personal Facebook account, Twitter (Tweet, retweet or reply with an NBA player’s first and last name or Twitter handle, along with the hashtag #NBAVOTE, or even on Amazon Alexa (say “Alexa, open NBA All-Star,” and then vote for whoever you want).