NBA All Star Voting First Release: Boston's Tacko Fall, Lakers' Alex Caruso Among Leaders

The NBA released the first wave of fan voting results for the 2020 All-Star Game and while some players appear to be a shoo-in with their performances this season, the results have its share of their surprises.

Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic, Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James hit the million-vote mark right on the first balloting of the annual event. Leading the Western Conference is Doncic, the last year’s rookie of the year, gathering 1,073,957 votes to lead all players in both conferences.

Antetokounmpo, the reigning MVP, was a close second, trailing by just over 500 votes with 1,073,358 to lead the Eastern Conference’s frontcourt. LeBron James tallied 1,020,851 votes to lead the frontcourt race in the West.

Completing the leaders for the Western Conference’s frontcourt are James, teammate Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Karl-Anthony Towns, Kristaps Porzingis, Nikola Jokic, Carmelo Anthony, Brandon Ingram, and Dwight Howard.

Western’s backcourt is led by Doncic, James Harden, Damian Lillard, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, D’Angelo Russell, Donovan Mitchell, Alex Caruso, Devin Booker, and rookie Ja Morant.

Joining Antetokounmpo in the Eastern Conference’s frontcourt leaders are Joel Embiid, Pascal Siakam, Jimmy Butler, Jayson Tatum, Tacko Fall, Bam Adebayo, Gordon Hayward, Andre Drummond, and Domantas Sabonis.

Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young emerged as the top guard from the East with 443,412 votes. He’s joined in the top 10 by Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker, Derrick Rose, Zach LaVine, Ben Simmons, Jaylen Brown, Kyle Lowry, Bradley Beal, and Spencer Dinwiddie.

To the surprise of some, Celtics’ rookie center Tacko Fall and Lakers’ reserve guard Alex Caruso made the vote leaders' list for their respective conferences – Fall ranks sixth in the frontcourt race in the East while Caruso is at the eighth spot among the guards in the West. Both fan favorites, the two are sending the crowd in frenzy every time they hit the floor regardless of the minutes that they log in.

The 7-foot-5 Fall, who went undrafted in last year’s draft, only played three games for Brad Stevens’ squad. He’s averaging 4.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 0.7 blocks while playing a grand total of 12 minutes for the 23-8 Boston.

Despite his limited action for the Celtics, the 24-year old from University of Central Florida has been dominating the center position for Maine Red Claws – he is holding averages of 14.1 points, 10.7 rebounds, 2.6 blocks, and 1.1 assists in just 23.3 minutes for 11 games, including a franchise-record 14 offensive boards in a single game.

Caruso, on the other hand, has been making the headlines for his occasional highlight reels. Undrafted in 2016 draft, the high-flying guard from Texas A&M has found his niche as the energizer bunny for the Lakers off the bench.

The 25-year old Caruso has been averaging 5.4 points, 2.2 assists, 2.1 rebounds in 32 games for the Lakers, playing 19.5 minutes per outing. He’s in his third season with the purple and gold and the fans are rewarding his efforts by trying to send him to the All-Star game.