LeBron, Curry, Durant, Irving Lead in Early 2023 NBA All-Star Voting

• LeBron James leads all players in the 2023 NBA All-Star first returns
• Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant leads the voting in the Eastern Conference
• Stephen Curry leads among guards in the NBA
• The 2023 NBA All-Star will be held on February 19th

The 2023 NBA All-Star first returns are in and the usual suspects are leading the way in the two conferences.

LeBron James leads in overall voting. Stephen Curry and Kyrie Irving lead in guard voting in the West and Eastern Conferences respectively, while Kevin Durant leads in the East.

James is on track for his 19th career All-Star Game and has been phenomenal for the Los Angeles Lakers this season, averaging 29.0 points, 8.2 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game, per Bleacher Report.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn Nets superstar Durant is on pace to get his 13th All-Star nod of his career. He has helped the Nets bounce back from a terrible start to the season. The Nets have won 16 of their past 18 games and is averaging 29.9 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game.

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2023 NBA All-Star vote

Among the Western Conference frontcourt players, James has accumulated 3,168,694 votes entering Thursday, January 5th. In second place is reigning NBA MVP Denver's Nikola Jokic with 2,237,768 while the Lakers' Anthony Davis is third with 2,063,325, per ESPN.

Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry leads all guards with 2,715,520 votes. Dallas Mavericks Luka Doncic follows him in the second spot among West guards with 2,388,502 votes.

Brooklyn's Kyrie Irving leads with 2,071,715 votes, and Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell is second with 1,637,374, among Eastern Conference guards.

The top three frontcourt players and the top two guards in each conference will be chosen as starters. The most voted players in every conference will serve as captains and will draft their own teams.

Fan voting counts for 50 per cent of the starters balloting, a media ballot counts for 25per cent and the ballots by NBA players count for the other 25.

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LeBron gifts jersey to 2 Chainz

Sports Brief earlier reported on LeBron James gifting his game-worn jersey to rapper 2 Chainz after another impressive display for the Lakers.

After the buzzer rang, he took off his No. 6 uniform jersey, autographed it and gave it to the rapper who was sitting courtside. The two shared a lovely embrace afterward.

James 47 points lifted the Lakers past Atlanta Hawks 130-121 which coincidentally was his 38th birthday.