KEVIN DURANT LEADING VOTE-GETTER IN FIRST FANS RETURN

The first fan returns from All-Star voting are in and it’s a landslide. Kevin Durant leads all NBA players in fan voting.

In the voting, Durant has garnered 2,302,705 fans votes, 14,000 votes more than LeBron James ... and more than a half million more than Giannis Antetokounmpo, the second biggest vote getter in the Eastern Conference. Only KD, James and Steph Curry received more than two million votes.

In addition to Durant, two other Nets are million vote-getters. Kyrie Irving is No. 2 (to Bradley Beal) among Eastern Conference guards with 1,093,611 votes, a little less than 80,000 ahead of teammate James Harden.

Here’s the top 10 for bigs and guards, provided by the NBA...

All-Star starters are selected by a combination of fans (50 percent of the formula), players (25 percent) and media (25 percent). Reserves are selected by NBA coaches. Voting as usual can be cast in a variety of ways from now through midnight on February 16 with starters announced two days later and reserves February 23.

Durant has been selected to 10 All-Star games, Irving eight and Harden six. KD will receive a $1 million bonus if (when?) he’s named an All-Star.

• 5 takeaways from first fan returns of NBA All-Star Voting 2021 - Steve Aschburner - NBA.com
• Kevin Durant leads LeBron James at top of NBA All-Star voting - Tim Bontemps - ESPN
• Nets’ Kevin Durant leads all NBA players in All-Star voting, while Knicks’ Julius Randle lags far behind - Danny Abriano - SNY