Giannis ahead of LeBron James in the first round of NBA All-Star votes

With just a little over a month away from this season’s edition of the much-anticipated NBA All-Star Game. The first round of fan votes have been tallied and unsurprisingly, it’s Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo who’s leading the pack yet again.

At this point in his career, it would be safe to say that Giannis has firmly established himself as a fan favorite. The former back-to-back MVP has unofficially overtaken LeBron James for the title of the most popular NBA player right now — at least according to the first fan returns of the NBA All-Star Voting.

Antetokounmpo reigns supreme with a total vote tally of 2,171,812. He isn’t only sitting atop the Eastern Conference (at second is Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers with 1,844,025 votes), but he’s also outscored the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, LeBron James (2,008,645), on the tally board.

Based on these initial results, it’s looking likely that Giannis will be named team captain in the East, while LeBron is probably going to be his counterpart out West. This will potentially be the fourth time Team Giannis and Team LeBron will battle it out on the All-Star stage.

Team LeBron currently leads the head-to-head battle, 3-1, with Team Giannis marking its first win during last year’s All-Star Game.

It is worth noting, however, that the fan vote will account for only 50% of the final tally. The votes from the media and the players will account for 25% apiece, with the NBA set to officially announce the starters on January 25.