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James Harden & Kawhi Leonard Lag Behind in 1st All-Star Fan Vote Return

The LA Clippers' two stars have received fewer votes than expected in first All-Star voting return.
Cem Yolbulan|
Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Clippers are hosting the 2026 NBA All-Star Weekend between February 13 and 15. The stars will flock to the Intuit Dome to honor the best players in the league, under a new United States vs. International format. As the host team, the Clippers would love to have at least one All-Star representative, but the returns from the first round of fan voting are not promising.

Per the NBA's official announcement, James Harden received the twelfth-most votes in the Western Conference with 215,301 votes, and Kawhi Leonard ranked 20th with 85,325 votes.

James Harden & Kawhi Leonard Still Have a Shot at All-Star Honors

Voting continues until January 14, so there is plenty of time for Leonard and Harden to climb up the list. Fortunately for the Clippers' stars, fan voting is only a part of the selection criteria to be a starter in the All-Star game. NBA players (25%) and media (25%) also vote for their starters, and the cumulative result of all three votes is taken into account.

Even if Leonard and Harden are not selected as starters, they have a chance to make the All-Star game as reserves. The seven reserves from each conference are voted on by the 30 head coaches.

With the new format, there will be 16 U.S. and eight international players to make up three teams of eight. Players will be selected without regard to positions. If the voting doesn't result in the selection of 16 U.S. players and eight international players, commissioner Adam Silver will select additional All-Stars to reach those numbers.

Harden and Leonard lagging behind makes sense, given how the Clippers started the season. Wins were hard to come by for the Clippers, despite how well Harden was playing. Leonard hit his stride in recent weeks after missing ten games earlier in the season. Over the last two weeks, he has been playing at a near-MVP level, leading the Clippers to four straight wins.

The Clippers are now 10-21 for the season. If they continue their climb up the Western Conference standings, Harden and Leonard will almost certainly get more of a look by the fans in All-Star voting. Moving up the ladder in the fan vote will increase their chances of being selected by the coaches as reserves.

Steve Ballmer and Clippers fans alike would love to see at least one of them to represent the organization at Intuit Dome that weekend.

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Cem Yolbulan
CEM YOLBULAN

Cem has worked as an Associate Editor for FanSided's Regional Betting Network sites for two years and continues to be a contributor, producing NBA and NFL content. He has also previously written soccer content for Sports Illustrated. He has extensive prior experience covering the NBA for various Fansided sites. Cem has been living in the Washington, DC area for over 15 years since moving to the United States from Istanbul, Turkey. On any given day, he can be found watching soccer or basketball on his couch with his many cats and dogs.

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