Voting for concludes on Tuesday at 4:59am on Tuesday January 21 (UK time)
Friday 17 January 2020 10:27, UK
The Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James leads the Dallas Mavericks' Luka Doncic by 149,564 votes for the top spot in the Western Conference in the third fan returns of NBA All-Star Voting.
The NBA All-Star Game starter from each conference who receives the most fan votes in his conference will be the team captains and draft the rosters for the 69th NBA All-Star Game. The captains will choose from the pool of players voted as starters and reserves in each conference, making their selections regardless of conference affiliation.
Voting for fans, players and media will conclude on Tuesday at 4:59am on Tuesday January 21 (UK time).
Fans account for 50 per cent of the vote to determine the 10 starters for the 2020 NBA All-Star Game, which will take place at the United Center in Chicago on Sunday, February 16. All current NBA players and a media panel each account for 25 per cent of the vote, with every voter completing one full ballot featuring two guards and three frontcourt players from each conference.
The final day for All-Star voting (January 20) is the last of five '2-for-1 Days', allowing fans to have their votes count twice through all voting platforms.
The NBA All-Star Game starters, including the two team captains, will be revealed on Thursday, January 23 during TNT NBA Tip-Off. The network will also announce the reserves, as selected by NBA head coaches, on Thursday, January 30 during TNT NBA Tip-Off.
In the third fan returns, James, the Lakers' Anthony Davis and the LA Clippers' Kawhi Leonard hold the top three spots, in that order, in the Western Conference frontcourt. Doncic has the most votes among the West guards, followed by the Houston Rockets' James Harden.
In the Eastern Conference, the Brooklyn Nets' Kyrie Irving leads the Boston Celtics' Kemba Walker by 16,985 votes for second place among guards, behind first-place Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks. In the frontcourt, the Toronto Raptors' Pascal Siakam has passed the Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid by 34,668 votes for the second spot, behind first-place Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks.
After all votes are tallied, players will be ranked in each conference by position (guard and frontcourt) within each of the three voting groups - fan votes, player votes and media votes.
Each player's score will be calculated by averaging his weighted rank from the fan votes, the player votes and the media votes.
The two guards and three frontcourt players with the best score in each conference will be named NBA All-Star Game starters.
Fan voting will serve as the tie-breaker for players in a position group with the same score.
