LeBron James, Stephen Curry 3rd in spots in NBA All-Star voting

The NBA’s first round of All-Star voting was released Thursday afternoon, and in the latest sign of a transition in eras in The Association, LeBron James and Stephen Curry third place in their respective rankings.

James is third overall in West frontcourt voting — still in the starting spot — with 1.17 million votes, trailing Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokicwith 1.4 million votes, and Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durantwith 1.27 million, although James has a healthy lead for the third and final starting spot over his Lakers teammate, Anthony Davisand San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyamathere are both over 900,000 votes cast.

Meanwhile, Curry could find himself coming off the bench for the second year in a row out west as he sits behind. Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (1.05 million votes) and Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (870,071), putting him about 60,000 votes ahead of third-place Curry.

However, Doncic is out for the next few weeks with a calf strain, which could allow Curry to get back into the mix to start in his home All-Star Game in San Francisco in February.

In the east, meanwhile, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo— after snapping James’ seven-year streak as the top vote-getter last year — leads all votes again this year with 1.7 million votes cast so far. He is followed by Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (1.38 million), who is on track to make his sixth straight All-Star Game appearance, while New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns had the third starting place with just over 1 million votes.

No other Eastern Front player has even half a million votes, which puts these three in a very strong position to finish the voting in these three spots.

The closest battle of all the position groups comes in the East backcourt, where LaMelo Ballwith just under a million votes, is first, but Donovan Mitchell of the NBA leader Cleveland Cavaliers is only 13,000 votes ahead of the Bucks guard Damian Lillard to the second starting place in the east.

Jalen Brunson is in fourth place with just under 500,000 votes, while Trae Young is fifth with just over 350,000.

The vote tallies will be updated again on January 9th and January 16th, with voting ending on Monday, January 20th. The fan vote makes up 50 percent of the vote when it comes to who starts, with media and players voting separately. 25 percent.

The starters for both conferences will be announced on January 23, and the reserves will be revealed a week later.