The 2022 NBA All-Star Game is set to take place next month and we have the first return of the voting. Plenty of players received votes for the big game, and some have even surpassed the two million mark.
This season, we’ve seen superstars taking their games to the next level, like Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, who are two of the biggest candidates for the MVP award right now. Others have surprised the world with their performances, earning All-Star recognition in the past couple of weeks.
The first return of votes is live now, and we’ve discovered that the usual suspects are leading the voting in their respective positions. LeBron James leads the West in frontcourt votes with 2,018,725, followed by the 2021 NBA MVP Nikola Jokic (1.6M), Paul George (1.07M), and one of the biggest surprises this year, Andrew Wiggins (933K).
Stephen Curry leads the guards with a huge advantage over No. 2, collecting 2,584,623 votes, three times more than Luka Doncic, who has earned 787,690. Ja Morant is third with 669,033 and Klay Thompson, who is yet to play a game this season, ranks 4th with 367,773 votes.
Warriors’ Stephen Curry and Nets’ Kevin Durant lead the NBA’s first All-Star fan voting returns: pic.twitter.com/3812PFdcGb
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 6, 2022
Kevin Durant leads the East in frontcourt votes, surpassing the two million mark, too, getting 2,360,435 votes. Giannis Antetokounmpo closely follows KD with 2,145,835 votes. Joel Embiid and Jayson Tatum close the top 4 with 1,236,060 and 643,970 votes, respectively.
DeMar DeRozan, another surprising name this campaign, has a clear advantage in the East guards voting. He has received 1,487,598 votes, more than James Harden’s 892,065 and Trae Young’s 862,878. Zach LaVine, DeRozan’s teammate, ranks 4th with 776,043 votes.
There are some interesting things to see in this first return. Curry and Durant lead their respective conferences. Andrew Wiggins is 4th in All-Star voting in the West frontcourt; Klay Thompson is 4th in the West voting guard without having played a single game this campaign and Kyrie Irving ranks 6th in the East.
NBA fans are something else and every year give us eyebrow-raising stuff. This season hasn’t been the exception and nothing points out this will change soon. Even after the league changed the way All-Stars are selected, fans keep trolling.
