The 2022 NBA All-Star is still a month away, but fans are already starting to have a clear picture regarding who will be leading the Eastern and Western Conference. The NBA started giving an update on the 2022 NBA All-Star voting in the first week of January. For the first fan returns, Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, Los Angeles Lakers small forward LeBron James, Brooklyn Nets small forward Kevin Durant, and Chicago Bulls shooting guard DeMar DeRozan have led their respective position groups for both conferences.
LeBron James, Stephen Curry & Kevin Durant Get 4 Million Votes In Latest NBA All-Star Voting
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Second Fan Returns Of 2022 NBA All-Star Voting
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On Twitter, the NBA Communications released the second fan return for the 2022 NBA All-Star voting. The names on the top of respective position groups for the Eastern Conference and Western Conference remain the same, but three of them have already reached at least four million votes. These include Curry, James, and Durant.
Curry is still the top vote-getter with 4,463,426 votes. James got the second spot with 4,386,392 votes, while Durant has the third most number of votes with 4,088,334.
LeBron James Challenging Stephen Curry As West Captain
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While he beat Durant as the No. 2 vote-getter for the ongoing 2022 NBA All-Star voting, James is still not the captain of the Western Conference. However, compared to the first fan returns, James is already inching closer to Curry. As of now, only 77, 034 votes are separating James and Curry.
It's not a surprise that James is starting to get more appreciation from fans. So far, he continues to establish MVP caliber performance, averaging 29.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, 6.6 assists, 1.1 blocks, and 1.7 steals while shooting 52.4 percent from the field and 36.6 percent from the three-point range, per ESPN.
Can Giannis Antetokounmpo Catch Up With Kevin Durant?
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While it's not as close as the Western Conference, the battle for the Eastern Conference captainship is also getting more intense. While James is looking to reclaim his title from Curry, Milwaukee Bucks power forward and former two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo is eyeing to dethrone Durant as the Eastern Conference captain. Based on the second fan return for the 2022 NBA All-Star voting, Antetokounmpo is only behind Durant by 279,876 votes.
Following Antetokounmpo are DeRozan, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid, Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young, and Bulls shooting guard Zach LaVine.
Two New Names In East Top 10
While Curry, Durant, James, and Antetokounmpo are competing for captainship in the Eastern and Western Conference, other players are fighting to retain their respective spots for the All-Star game. So far, the players in the top 10 of the Western Conference's frontcourt and backcourt remain the same. However, there are two new players that emerged in the Eastern Conference's top 10, according to Kyle Irving of NBA.com.
"In the Eastern Conference, there were only two new names that popped up in the top 10," Irving wrote. "In the frontcourt, Toronto Raptors forward and one-time All-Star Pascal Siakam entered the conversation, receiving 244,042 votes to rank eighth in the East. In the backcourt, Boston Celtics guard and one-time All-Star Jaylen Brown entered the top 10, receiving 217,463 votes to rank 10th in the East."
