Tyrese Haliburton maintains All-Star vote lead among guards in East

SACRAMENTO -- Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton's absence with a strained left hamstring hasn't cost him at all in the All-Star balloting. He maintained a sizable lead in the fan voting among Eastern Conference guards through the third returns, which will be the last before balloting ends on Saturday. That puts him in excellent position to start the All-Star Game in Indianapolis on Feb. 18.

Haliburton received 2,718,973 votes through the third returns, which gives him a lead of more than 900,000 votes over Atlanta's Trae Young, who is in position for the second starting spot. Young's lead over third-place Damian Lillard of Milwaukee is just over 85,000 votes.

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The fan vote makes up 50% of the criteria for starters. A vote among players accounts for 25% and selected media members accounts for 25%.

Haliburton, who made his first All-Star appearance in Utah last season, leads the Pacers with 23.6 points per game and leads the NBA with 12.5 assists per game.

Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo leads all vote-getters with over 4.3 million votes. Philadelphia's Joel Embiid and Boston's Jayson Tatum hold the other two Eastern Conference frontcourt starting positions with over 3.7 million votes. LeBron James leads all Western Conference vote getters with over 3.9 million votes. Denver's Nikola Jokic and Phoenix's Kevin Durant hold frontcourt starting positions with over 3.4 million votes each. Dallas' Luka Doncic leads all Western Conference guards. Golden State's Stephen Curry is second, but his lead over Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is less than 300,000 votes.