LeBron James will likely lose a lengthy All-Star Game streak this season

The latest All-Star voting returns released showed LeBron James still well behind Nikola Jokic, likely ending a 12-year run of him leading his conference in votes.

The NBA is always changing and transitions often happen so gradually that fans don’t even realize they are occurring.

With the third All-Star fan voting results revealed, LeBron finally surpassed Kevin Durant to hold the No. 2 spot in the West. However, Nikola Jokić remains on top, increasing his lead from the 296,194 advantage he had when the second results were revealed to 333,149 with only five days of voting left.

LeBron James has been the top vote-getter in his conference — whether in the East with the Cavs and Heat or the West with the Lakers — since 2012. Unless LeBron makes a 3-1-esque comeback, he will not catch the Joker by Jan. 20 when fan voting closes.

Overall, LeBron is the fourth-highest vote-getter with two East players, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Boston’s Jayson Tatum, ahead of him. Giannis is currently the top vote-getter overall, with 3,489,956 votes.

LeBron James may not win the popularity contest, but he is undeniably still an All-Star-caliber player. He averages 23.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 8.8 assists per game. Unless something peculiar happens between now and the end of fan voting, he will make a record 21st NBA All-Star appearance in San Francisco.

Anthony Davis is also likely to join LeBron as an All-Star. He is fifth in the West in fan voting for the frontcourt, but he has numbers that certainly warrant the honor. AD is leading the Lakers in points, averaging 25.8 per game and is also the team’s leading rebounder, averaging 11.9 a night.

Remember that the NBA does not decide who becomes an All-Star solely through fan voting. Fans make up 50% of the vote, and select media members and current NBA players split the other half. That breakdown accounts for the selection of the All-Star starters for each conference. Head coaches will choose the reserves.

With the fan voting drawing to a close, the NBA has one more “3-for-1 Day,” where NBA ID members’ votes will count three times. This will be on the final day of voting on Jan. 20.

So, if you disagree that the LeBron era is over, don’t argue in the comments, go vote! Vote for James daily, especially on the final day when your selection has three times the power.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.