Top NBA All-Star candidates: LeBron James, Stephen Curry among locks; Luka Doncic, Damian Lillard could be out
CBSN
Breaking down who's definitely in, who's likely in and who needs to make a push
The first returns from NBA All-Star voting were released earlier this week, serving as yet another reminder of why the fan vote is no longer solely used to determine the starters. Klay Thompson, who has yet to appear in an NBA game this season, and Kyrie Irving, who just played for the first time on Wednesday, each received hundreds of thousands of votes -- more than plenty of truly deserving candidates.
Because of consistent illogicality such as this, the fan vote only accounts for 50 percent of the formula that determines All-Star starters. The rest is made up of an equal share of current players and select media members. The reserves are then chosen by the league's head coaches.
With fan voting ending on Jan. 22 and the starters being announced a week later, we thought now would be a good time to take stock of the top candidates in each conference, in advance of the Feb. 20 All-Star Game in Cleveland. Below you'll find them broken down into categories based on the likeliness that they'll be selected, and it's important to keep in mind that there are only 12 All-Star spots for each conference, which means some tough decisions will have to be made, and the word "SNUB!" will be shouted from the highest rooftops shortly thereafter.
