Friday 18 January 2019 01:38, UK
Houston Rockets guard James Harden is leading the NBA in scoring with a whopping 35.4 points per game average, but he's not first in the hearts of NBA fans.
In the latest NBA All-Star voting results released Thursday, Harden was behind Golden State's Stephen Curry and Minnesota's Derrick Rose in fan voting among Western Conference guards.
All-Star starters are named based on the voting of fans (50 per cent), NBA players (25 per cent) and media (25 per cent).
Warriors forward Kevin Durant also finds himself on the outside in the fan balloting, trailing leading vote-getter LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas rookie Luka Doncic and Oklahoma City's Paul George in the front court.
In the Eastern Conference, the leading vote-getters among fans in the front court are Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee, Kawhi Leonard of Toronto, Philadelphia's Joel Embiid and Boston's Jayson Tatum.
At guard, Boston's Kyrie Irving and Miami's Dwyane Wade are in the lead, followed by Kemba Walker of Charlotte and Ben Simmons of Philadelphia.
The 2019 NBA All-Star Game will be played February 17 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Also on Thursday, the NBA announced the All-Star Game draft will be televised on February 7.
In the draft, the two captains will select players, regardless of conference, from the elected starters and the reserves chosen by coaches.
The leading vote-getter from fan balloting for each conference will be the captain.
Last season, James and Golden State's Stephen Curry were team captains and made their selections via conference call. The order in which they selected some players was ultimately leaked, and many - including several players - argued the draft should have been televised in the first place.
According to reports, the original plan was indeed to televise the draft but the players' union pushed back and the draft was moved to a conference call.
