Retiring Kobe Bryant, the most popular Los Angeles Lakers guard of his generation is now the runaway vote leader for the 65th NBA All-Star Game according to the latest announcement released by the NBA on Friday. The 17-time All-Star already received 719,235 votes.
Based upon the initial tally of the NBA, Kobe Bryant leads the All-Star voting and he was followed by the reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors with a total of 510,202 votes.
Cleveland’s LeBron James came in third place in the All-Star voting with a total of 357,937 votes. The NBA revealed that the Global fan voting will determine the starters for the annual contest of the NBA elite stars. The NBA All-Star 2016 is scheduled this coming February 14 in Toronto.
Kobe Bryant is considered as the leading scorer in NBA All-Star Game history wth 280 points and ranks second in All-Star appearances behind fellow Lakers’ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who had a record-breaking 19 NBA All-Star appearances.
Based upon the current results of the NBA All Star Voting, the West All-Stars will feature Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Blake Griffin.
Leading for spots in the East are LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Paul George, Andre Drummond and Kyrie Irving. The voting for the 2016 NBA All-Star Game will conclude on January 18 and the starting lineups will be announced on January 21, 2015.