Irving leads East guards in second round of All-Star voting

The second round of voting results from the NBA’s All-Star fan vote were released today, announcing good news for both Kyrie Irving and other Celtics stars.

As the 2019 NBA All-Star game in Charlotte, North Carolina creeps closer, the fan vote has gotten more intense. Today, the NBA released their second round of voting results – and it’s more good news for the Celtics.

How does this look compared to the first returns? Well, let’s see:

Even after Twitter debates about the validity of fans voting for Dwyane Wade, he still remains near the top of the East guards, but it looks like nothing will stop Kyrie Irving’s lead on the position. With 2,381,901 votes, Irving is well over a million ahead of the second place Wade, and seems a near-lock to secure a spot as a starter in this year’s All-Star game, further confirming the magical season he’s had to date.

Remember, though, that the top vote-getter from each conference (regardless of position) will be named a team captain, who then gets to choose their squad from the All-Star selections in both conferences. Giannis Antetokounmpo has held his conference lead strong, currently just a bit under 300,000 votes ahead of Irving. While Irving has certainly secured his spot amongst the East’s guards, he still has a bit more time to overcome the Greek Freak as top dog in the East.

Other Celtics got a boost from the team’s recent success as well, with Jayson Tatum passing Jimmy Butler for fourth in the East frontcourt, garnering 599,289 votes. Joel Embiid is in a very distant third at 1,710,229 votes, though, so Tatum has likely reached his ceiling.

Gordon Hayward also moved up a spot in the rankings, going up to eighth in the East frontcourt with 237,813 votes. Once again, though, there may be trouble climbing up the ladder much further, as the only other player in Hayward’s ballpark vote-wise is Vince Carter, who, along with Wade, has also had a strong legacy All-Star campaign.

Al Horford remains in the 10th and final spot, though his vote count has increased substantially to a total of 199,474. He sits a mere 7,000~ votes behind Raptors phenom Pascal Siakam for ninth.

Vote counts are doubled for today, January 10th, tomorrow, January 11th, and the final day of voting, January 21st, leaving Celtics fans the opportunity to shake up the ballot even more.

With only 11 days until voting closes – get out and vote for your favorite Celtics.