The NBA world no longer orbits around LeBron James.
On Monday, the NBA released the first returns from fan voting for the 2026 NBA All-Star Game. In the rankings, Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic was the overall leading vote-getter with 1,249,518 tallies and Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo was the leader in the Eastern Conference with 1,192,296 votes.
But what was particularly stunning about the voting results was just how low the Los Angeles Lakers forward James ranked on the totem pole. James clocked in at just ninth in the Western Conference with 536,555 votes (which also made him only the 15th-leading vote-getter overall).
In fact, James ranked even lower than lesser-known names (at least to the casual fan) such as Portland’s Deni Avdija and Boston’s Jaylen Brown. Here are the full results.
Luka Dončić and Giannis Antetokounmpo lead their conferences in the first fan returns in NBA All-Star Voting 2026.
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) December 29, 2025
Fans (50% of the vote) join NBA players (25%) and a media panel (25%) in selecting five players in each conference honored as starters.
Next fan update: 1/6. pic.twitter.com/pHykl9yhTE
The soon-to-be 41-year-old James has appeared in just 14 games for the Lakers so far this season due to a sciatica issue. But that does not quite tell the whole story since other top vote-getters like Doncic, Antetokounmpo, Victor Wembanyama, and Steph Curry have all missed 20 percent or more of their team’s games this year as well.
James, already a 21-time All-Star, is also having a bit of a down season (which is understandable at his age). He is averaging a career-low 20.5 points, a career-low 4.9 rebounds, and a near-career-low 6.7 assists per game for the Lakers this year.
On top of that, James has become an unpopular figure among many fans and recently sparked backlash with a video of him seemingly disrespecting the national anthem. While the fan vote isn’t exactly known for being rational (with some pointing out that the late Kobe Bryant earned multiple All-Star selections off legacy alone in the waning years of his NBA career), it appears that James no longer has that same pull with fans in his 23rd professional season.
