The third and final All-Star voting returns are in, and the guard spots are still the only real races to monitor. In the Eastern Conference, Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks has increased his lead for the second spot, with 85,862 more votes than Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard. In the Western Conference, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder gained a bit of ground on Stephen Curry, but is still trailing the Golden State Warriors superstar by 285,041 votes.
Just like they did in the last two weeks of returns, Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Bucks leads all vote-getters (4,309,630 votes), while LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers leads all players in the West (3,938,571).
In the frontcourt, the Denver Nuggets' Nikola Jokic has a 31,642-vote lead over the Phoenix Suns' Kevin Durant for the No. 2 spot in the West, and the Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid has a 3,691-vote lead over the Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum. For these "races" to matter, though, the media and player voting would have to differ fairly drastically from the fan voting. The top three frontcourt players and top two backcourt players in their respective conferences will start in the All-Star Game, which will take place in Indianapolis on Sunday, Feb. 18.
LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo lead their respective conferences in the third fan returns of #NBAAllStar Voting presented by AT&T.
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) January 18, 2024
Fans account for 50% of the vote to decide All-Star starters. NBA players and a media panel account for 25% each. pic.twitter.com/fyGeQXgEhH
You can vote until Saturday at 11:59 p.m. ET. All fan votes received on Friday, the last "3-for-1" day, will count three times. The results of this voting do not determine the starters outright; fans account for 50% of the overall vote, with the other half split between NBA players and a panel of media members.
The All-Star starters will be announced next week (Jan. 25) on TNT. The reserves, which will be chosen by NBA coaches, will be announced the following week (Feb. 1) on TNT.