Lakers News: LeBron James in Danger of Not Being All-Star Starter for First Time Ever

The 20-time All-Star finds himself in a strange place when it comes to fan voting this year.

Feb 18, 2024; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Western Conference forward LeBron James (23) of the Los Angeles Lakers dunks the ball against the Eastern Conference All-Stars during the first quarter in the 73rd NBA All Star game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images / Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

20-time All-Star Los Angeles Lakers power forward LeBron James finds himself in an unusual spot when it comes to fan voting this year.

The four-time league MVP, who at 40 is the league's oldest active player, is currently third among all fan voting for Western Conference frontcourt players, a shade under 200K votes ahead of his teammate Anthony Davis. If Davis (999,540 votes) or budding San Antonio Spurs superstar center Victor Wembanyama (928,501 votes) surpasses James, it could mark the first time the future first ballot Hall of Famer would miss out on being an All-Star starter.

Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo are leading the NBA’s first 2024-25 All-Star fan voting returns: pic.twitter.com/eQeU60l673

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 2, 2025

Still, James' 1,167,661 fan votes tally ranks fifth overall among all vote recipients thus far in this first wave, behind only two-time Milwaukee Bucks MVP power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo's 1,710,630 votes, three-time Denver Nuggets MVP center Nikola Jokic's 1,422,121 votes, All-NBA Boston Celtics power forward Jayson Tatum's 1,385,851 votes, and 2014 MVP Phoenix Suns power forward Kevin Durant's 1,268,799 votes.

Three frontcourt players and two guards comprise each conference's starting five, so for now if the voting holds — and it isn't rocked by some differently-opinioned journalist and player voting (whose votes are each weighed at 25 percent of the total) — James is safe. But he's usually among the top two vote recipients overall, not the top three at his position. It represents a significant drop in fan appreciation for his contributions on the court, although in fairness he has looked a bit less dominant on offense this season than usual. James has long been diminished defensively from his Miami Heat-era prime.

All the same, the four-time Finals MVP is still logging solid averages of 23.4 points on .497/.362/.771 shooting splits, 8.9 assists, 7.7 rebounds, 0.8 steals and 0.6 steals a night, across 29 contests. Although five-time All-NBA Los Angeles power forward/center Anthony Davis has been newly empowered as first-year head coach JJ Redick's offensive hub, James still quarterbacks the Lakers' attack on that end of the floor as its lead ball handler and playmaker. James is the second-best player on the 18-14 Lakers, a good-if-not-great club that could be in line for some movement up the West ranks after offloading D'Angelo Russell's expiring contract for 3-and-D swingman Dorian Finney-Smith and reserve guard Shake Milton.

This year's All-Star weekend takes place in the Golden State Warriors' home arena, Chase Center, from February 14-16.

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