Early NBA All-Star voting has LeBron and Kevin Durant way in front

NBA All-Star voting results have begun trickling in and the early return could be setting up a matchup between Team LeBron and Team Kevin Durant.

Fan voting for the NBA All-Star teams is open now and ends on Tuesday, Feb. 16. While votes are still being collected, the league has announced some early results and there are very surprises. Kevin Durant is currently the top vote-getter in the Eastern Conference, nearly a million votes ahead of Giannis Antetokounmpo. In the Western Conference, LeBron James leads all players but he’s only 300,000 votes or so ahead of Stephen Curry.

This will be the fourth season for the NBA’s new captains format, where the top vote-getters from each conference serve as team captains, selecting their teams from the available pool of All-Star players. LeBron has been a captain all three seasons in this format, playing against Team Steph in 2018 and Team Giannis the past two seasons.

Team LeBron against Team Durant is obviously an intriguing matchup but even if LeBron were to somehow be passed by Curry, we’d still end with an intense, personal rivalry headlining the game.

Who finished behind LeBron James and Kevin Durant in NBA All-Star voting?

If you’re curious about who else might end up as an All-Star starter, check out the full release.

Of course, a Team LeBron vs. Team Durant matchup might look great on paper but that doesn’t mean we’ll see a typical All-Star game. The league’s plans to actually hold the game were a surprising pivot and several players — including LeBron, Durant, James Harden and Giannis — have already spoken out against the idea and shared their lack of interest in playing. They’ll be there if they’re voted in but a game that’s lacking in competitive fire under the best of circumstances could be even flatter than usual.