Joel Embiid among top vote-getters in early NBA All-Star fan voting returns
Ben Simmons is 10th for conference guards. Tobias Harris not among the conference’s Top 10 frontcourt vote-getters. The final team will be announced in two weeks.
Joel Embiid has the third-most votes in the first fan returns in NBA All-Star voting for Eastern Conference frontcourt players, released Thursday.
Meanwhile, the 76ers center’s teammate, Ben Simmons, is 10th for conference guards. Tobias Harris, another Sixers All-Star candidate, is not among the conference’s Top 10 frontcourt vote-getters.
Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant is the league’s top overall vote-getter with 2,302,705 votes, while Los Angeles Lakers forward and four-time league MVP LeBron James leads the Western Conference in votes at 2,288,676.
Fans account for 50 percent of the vote to determine the 10 starters for the NBA All-Star Game, which is expected to be played on March 7 in Atlanta. A selected media panel and current NBA players will each account for 25 percent of the vote. The voters must pick two guards and three frontcourt players from each conference on their ballets. Voting concludes at 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 16.
The second fan-voting update will be on Feb. 11. TNT will reveal the All-Star starters on Feb. 18, while the reserves will be announced on Feb. 23.
The top three frontcourt and top two backcourt vote-getters in each conference will make up the 10 all-star starters. The all-star reserves are selected by the coaches.
The East’s top three frontcourt vote-getters are Durant, followed Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo (1,752,185) and Embiid (1,584,028).
The Washington Wizards’ Bradley Beal (1,273,817), Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving (1,093, 611) and James Harden (1,014,763), and the Boston Celtics’ Jaylen Brown (590,195) are the conference’s four leading guards. Ben Simmons has 117,993 votes.