Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo is the early leader in fan balloting for the NBA All-Star Game, and LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers seems well on his way toward extending his record and getting picked for a 21st time.

The first update on All-Star voting for this season's revised game was released saw Antetokounmpo as the overall leader with about 1.7 million votes. Three-time MVP Nikola Jokić of the Denver Nuggets is second overall with about 1.4 million votes, which tops all Western Conference players.

Charlotte's LaMelo Ball led East guards with 947,444 votes, with Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell second on 718,084 and Milwaukee's Damian Lillard third on 704,914.

There won't be ten starters this year for the All-Star Game, which is set to take place on Febuary 16 in San Francisco.

2025 marks the first year of a new All-Star format, one where there will be three games. The 24 All-Stars will be drafted into three teams of eight players apiece by TNT personalities and former NBA greats Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith.

Those three teams will be entered into a four-team tournament, with the remaining squad being the team of NBA rookies and second-year players that wins the Rising Stars event on All-Star Friday.

There are two semifinal games, followed by the winners meeting in a championship game – with the first team to reach 40 points the winner of all three games.

It will be wildly different than last year, when the All-Star Game final score was 211-186 – the highest-scoring one in history.

Voting continues through January 20.

Fan voting makes up 50 percent of the All-Star starter selection formula, with media voting accounting for another 25 percent and voting by current NBA players counting for the remaining 25 percent.

The ten players designated as starters – even though there technically will be at least 15 starters in the All-Star “games” – will be announced on January 23, and the reserves that will be selected by NBA head coaches will be announced on January 30. (AP/AFP)