Melo vaults into starting spot in latest round of All-Star balloting
Carmelo Anthony has moved into the top three frontcourt spots for the Eastern Conference in the latest round of NBA All-Star balloting released Thursday.
The New York Knicks forward has taken the position at the expense of Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond with four days left in voting.
Related: A renaissance of sorts for Carmelo Anthony
Kobe Bryant continues to lead all players with 1,533,432 votes in his farewell season. Stephen Curry joins him in the latest round as the only players to receive more than 1 million votes. His Golden State Warriors teammate, Draymond Green, maintains a slim lead over Kawhi Leonard of the San Antonio Spurs for the final starting spot in the Western Conference frontcourt.
If voting ended now, the starters would be as follows:
| Position | West | East |
|---|---|---|
| F | Kobe Bryant | LeBron James |
| F | Kevin Durant | Paul George |
| F | Draymond Green | Carmelo Anthony |
| G | Stephen Curry | Dwyane Wade |
| G | Russell Westbrook | Kyrie Irving |
Bryant has been unable to play in the last two All-Star Games due to injury. On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Lakers discussed sitting the 37-year-old for one-to-two weeks as he deals with a sore Achilles.
Fan voting ends at 11:59 p.m. ET this coming Monday, with the game going Feb. 14 in Toronto.
Anthony has a slim 7,000-vote lead over Drummond, and another close race is Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry trailing Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers by a little over 32,000 votes. Teammate LeBron James leads Eastern Conference players with 830,345 votes.
Carmelo & Draymond hold slim leads for starting spots in third returns of #NBAAllStarTO Voting presented by @Verizon pic.twitter.com/1KdQVhrYy8
— 2016 NBA All-Star (@NBAAllStar) January 14, 2016