LeBron James remains top three in latest All-Star voting returns

The second returns for All-Star voting were released and LeBron James is closing in on being the second-highest vote-getter in the Western Conference.

While LeBron James is still a dominant player on the court, his fandom appears to be dwindling ever so slightly.

In the first returns on All-Star voting, LeBron James was not the top vote-getter in the West.

With his fanbase now knowing LeBron was trailing both Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Phoenix’s Kevin Durant you might’ve thought they’d step up and stuff the ballots in favor of the king.

However, on Thursday, the NBA released the second returns in All-Star voting and LeBron James is still trailing both players. LeBron has closed the gap between himself and Durant down from 101,138 to just 2,151 votes, but the distance between himself and the Joker has ballooned from 254,460 to 296,194.

LeBron has been the top-vote getter in the NBA a record ten times and did it for seven consecutive years before the Milawukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo took that title from him last season.

This year, Giannis is in the lead overall and with Boston Celtic Jayson Tatum also gaining over two million votes, LeBron is barely hanging on to a top-five spot in All-Star voting across the NBA.

This season LeBron’s production certainly indicates he has been an All-Star. He is averaging 23.8 points, 7.7 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game. Even if he remains where he’s at, LeBron is a shoo-in for a 21st NBA All-Star appearance and is likely to surpass Durant for the No. 2 spot when the next fan voting returns are presented on Jan. 16.

The only other Laker to garner a top-ten spot in fan All-Star voting is Anthony Davis. Based on the latest returns, the forward dropped from four to five, with San Antonio Spurs sophomore Victor Wenbanyama swapping spots with AD.

Despite LeBron having more fans, AD is the best player in Los Angeles. He averages 25.8 points, 11.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. Another All-Star appearance for Davis would give him 10 in his career and be his third as a Laker.

Fans can continue voting once a day until fan voting is over on Jan. 20th.

To make your vote as impactful as possible, be sure to participate on “3-for-1 Days,” when NBA ID members’ votes will count three times. We have two of these dates happening on Friday, Jan. 17 and Monday, Jan. 20. Voting times are based on the East Coast, taking place from 12:01 a.m. ET – 11:59 p.m. ET on those dates.

When the NBA All-Star game does take place on Feb. 16, it’s going to look vastly different from previous iterations.

No longer will there be teams picked by the top two vote-getters and gone is the East vs. the West matchup.

Instead, four teams will play each other in a mini-tournament. TNT analysts Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith will select three teams out of the 24 All-Stars and the Castro Rising Stars Champion from the night before will be the fourth team.

The first team to 40 points will be deemed the winner and advance to the final game, which will take place immediately afterward to deem the winner of the All-Star game.

Hopefully, these changes will provide the kind of entertainment fans of the game deserve to see when the best basketball players in the NBA gather together to play a game.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.