NEW YORK – The Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James and the Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry have taken the lead in their respective conferences in the second fan returns of NBA All-Star Voting 2018 presented by Verizon.

Fans account for 50 percent of the vote to determine the 10 starters for the 67^th NBA All-Star Game, which will take place on Sunday, Feb. 18 at Staples Center in Los Angeles (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, TNT).  All current NBA players and a panel of basketball media account for 25 percent each, with every participant completing one full ballot featuring two guards and three frontcourt players from each conference.  Voting for fans, players and media will conclude on Monday, Jan. 15 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

In the second fan returns, James totaled 1,622,838 votes to pass the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo (1,480,954) as the top vote-getter in the Eastern Conference and overall.  James and Antetokounmpo are followed in the East frontcourt by the Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid (784,287) and the New York Knicks’ Kristaps Porzingis (640,928).

The Boston Celtics’ Kyrie Irving continues to lead all East guards, ranking third in the conference and overall with 1,370,643 votes.  The Toronto Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan (537,168) is still second among East guards, while Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons (397,942) has edged ahead of the Indiana Pacers’ Victor Oladipo (385,448) for third place.

In the Western Conference, Curry (1,369,658) has passed teammate Kevin Durant (1,326,059) to become the leading vote-getter.  Curry, the Houston Rockets’ James Harden (978,540) and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook (791,332) continue to be the top three guards in the West.

Durant maintains the top spot in the West frontcourt.  The New Orleans Pelicans’ Anthony Davis (664,687) remains in second place, while Golden State’s Draymond Green (616,730) has moved ahead of New Orleans’ DeMarcus Cousins (587,835) for third place.

Under a new All-Star Game format that replaces the traditional matchup between conferences, two captains will choose the rosters from the pool of players voted as starters and reserves.  The captains will be the All-Star starter from each conference who receives the most fan votes in his conference.

The All-Star Game starters will be announced live on TNT on Thursday, Jan. 18 during TNT NBA Tip-Off presented by Autotrader at 6 p.m. ET.  The network will unveil the reserves, as selected by NBA head coaches, on Tuesday, Jan. 23 during TNT NBA Tip-Off at 7 p.m. ET.  The team rosters will be revealed on Thursday, Jan. 25 in a special one-hour edition of TNT NBA Tip-Off at 7 p.m. ET.

After all votes are tallied, players will be ranked in each conference by position (guard and frontcourt) within each of the three voting groups – fan votes, player votes and media votes.  Each player’s score will be calculated by averaging his weighted rank from the fan votes, the player votes and the media votes.  The five players (two guards and three frontcourt players) with the best score in each conference will be named NBA All-Star Game starters.  Fan voting will serve as the tiebreaker for players in a position group with the same score. 

How Fans Can Vote:

• NBA.com voting page at NBA.com/vote: Fill out one full ballot per day (per day is defined as once every 24 hours) on NBA.com/vote from a desktop or mobile browser.  Fans can select up to two guards and three frontcourt players from each conference when choosing starters.  During the five “2-for-1 Days,” votes through this channel are counted twice.  The first two 2-for-1 Days were Dec. 31 and Jan. 4, and the remaining three are Jan. 11, Jan. 12 and Jan. 15. 

• NBA App: Access the ballot and vote through the app, which is available on Android and iOS.  Fans can fill out one full ballot per day and select up to two guards and three frontcourt players from each conference when choosing starters.  During 2-for-1 Days, votes through this channel are counted twice. 

• Facebook: Post the player’s first and last name along with the hashtag #NBAVOTE on your personal Facebook account.  Each post may include only one player’s name.  Fans may post votes for 10 unique players per day. 

• Twitter: Tweet, retweet or reply with an NBA player’s first and last name or Twitter handle, along with the hashtag #NBAVOTE.  Each tweet may include only one player’s name or handle.  Fans may vote for 10 unique players per day.

• Google Search: Search “NBA Vote All-Star” or “NBA Vote Team Name” and use respective voting cards to select teams and then players.  Fans may submit votes for 10 unique players per day. 

• Amazon Alexa:  To vote via Amazon Alexa, the user must have an Alexa-enabled device and enable the “NBA All-Star” skill.  To submit a vote, the user can open the skill with, “Alexa, open NBA All-Star,” and then request to vote for his or her player of choice.  Voters can submit a maximum of one player name per request to Alexa.  Users can submit votes for 10 unique players per Amazon account each day. 

• Sina Weibo and Tencent: To vote on Sina Weibo (weibo.com), the user must have a Sina Weibo account.  To vote on Sina Weibo, voters must visit China.NBA.com/vote, and select up to 10 players.  To vote on Tencent NBA Community, the user must have a QQ account.  To vote via Tencent NBA Community, voters must visit China.NBA.com/vote and select up to 10 players.  During 2-for-1 Days, votes through Sina Weibo and Tencent are counted twice.