Lakers News: Where LeBron James, Anthony Davis Rank In All-Star Vote Returns
Your Los Angeles Lakers' two best players, future first-ballot Hall of Famers LeBron James and Anthony Davis, are near the top of the heap when it comes to All-Star vote recipients, per an NBA press release that tracks the second batch of fan voting returns.
James leads the way in the Western Conference overall with 3,096,031 votes.
Davis, who's pretty clearly been better than James this season, ranks fourth among just frontcourt players with 1,487,434 fan votes, behind James, reigning Finals MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets (2,777,068 votes), and Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant (2,773,809 votes).
Overall, Davis ranks seventh in the West, when accounting for both guards and frontcourt players.
Don't forget, fan voting comprises just half of the voting pie that determines the ten starters for next month's All-Star game. The other half is split evenly between votes from journalists and players. While players have been known to throw votes away on unworthy candidates (as have fans, of course), the weighing of these three components generally yields pretty fair results. NBA head coaches fill out the 14 All-Star bench spots, and league commissioner Adam Silver adds injury replacement players.
LA is just 20-21 on the year, and probably doesn't deserve two starters in such a talented pool without a more elite record. But Davis seems destined to make the cut now, having been healthier than he's been in three years -- to this point in the 2023-24 season, anyway.
