LeBron, Durant lead NBA All-Star voting

LeBron James is well on his way to catching Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on more than the NBA’s career scoring list.

James is on pace to be an All-Star for the 19th time, after the NBA said on Thursday that he remains the overall leading vote-getter for the February 19 showpiece game in Salt Lake City.

Abdul-Jabbar is the only 19-time All-Star in NBA history, with Los Angeles Lakers’ legend James and Kobe Bryant 18-time selections.

James, who is only 423 points away from passing Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all- time scoring leader.

James had 4,825,229 votes going into Thursday, which puts him in position to be a captain for the sixth consecutive year — and possibly opposing Kevin Durant for the third straight time.

Durant, the Brooklyn Nets star who is expected to miss about a month after spraining a knee ligament earlier this week, is the top vote-getter in the Eastern Conference, with 4,509,238.

The top three frontcourt players and top two guards in each conference will be chosen as starters, with the leading overall vote-getters from each conference serving as captains and choosing their teams.

James tops the list of Western Conference frontcourt players. Denver’s Nikola Jokic remained in second (3,441,893) and the Lakers’ Anthony Davis third (2,950,563).

Durant leads the East frontcourt, just ahead of Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo (4,467,306).

But Boston’s Jayson Tatum moved ahead of Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid this week for the third spot – Tatum on 3,281,124 votes, Embiid on 3,248,733.

Golden State’s Stephen Curry leads all guards in the balloting with 3,901,808 votes, with Dallas star Luka Doncic No. 2 behind Curry among West guards with 3,649,647.

The top two vote-getters among East guards were also unchanged: Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving leads with 3,024,833 votes, and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell is second with 2,725,558.

Fan voting counts for 50 per cent of the starters balloting, a media ballot counts for 25 per cent and the ballots turned in by NBA players count for the other 25 per cent.

AAP 2023

Lakers’ LeBron James is set to lead the voting and become a record-matching 19-time NBA All-Star. (AP PHOTO)