By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly Staff 
The first round of fan votes for the NBA All-Star Game are in and the Sixers are represented nicely. To this point in the season, Philadelphia has the fourth best record in the Eastern Conference, just three games behind first place. They are led by young stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons with Jimmy Butler in the mix now as well. All three of the new Sixers Big 3 are in the top-5 in their respective positions in fan All-Star Voting.
LeBron/Steph and Giannis/Kyrie lead the first returns of #NBAAllStar Voting 2019 presented by @Google!
Vote on https://t.co/R6fBO5LSAS, the NBA App or by searching for your favorite player or team on Google.
Vote now! https://t.co/gcW4K59HC0 pic.twitter.com/JIZFyIC2Pu— 2019 NBA All-Star (@NBAAllStar) January 3, 2019
The starting lineup is selected by a combination of fan (50%), player (25%) and media (25%) voting while the reserves from each conference are voted upon among the head coaches from the respective conferences. Teams will be selected by two captains — the All-Star starters from each conference with the most fan votes.
Joel Embiid seeks his second All-Star berth in a season where he's posting averages of 26.9 points in nearly 34 minutes per game to go along with 13.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.9 blocks. The 7-foot-2 big man is shooting 48.5 percent from the floor and 80.2 percent from the charity stripe. Over Joel's last four games, hes averaging 31.8 points, 17 rebounds and three blocks while shooting 52.6 percent from the floor and 46.7 percent from beyond the arc. Embiid is the leading big man through the first batch of voting, ahead of Anthony Davis by 42,585 votes.
Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler comes in fourth behind Embiid in the Eastern Conference Frontcourt. The four-time All-Star joined the Sixers in a November trade that sent Robert Covington and Dario Saric to Minnesota. In 21 games since joining the Sixers, Butler is averaging 18 points on 46.2 percent shooting from the floor and 38.8 percent from beyond the arc.
Ben Simmons is looking to make his first All-Star Game after missing out on last year's. The second-year point man is fourth in voting among guards in the East. In 38 games this season, Simmons is averaging 16.3 points, 9.1 rebounds and 7.9 assists, shooting 57.6 percent from the floor. During the month of December, Simmons averaged a double-double (17.2 ppg, 10.3 rpg), shooting over 54 percent from the floor.
While many believe that Simmons didn't make last year's All-Star Game as a reserve because he was a rookie, Mavericks' Luca Doncic is in good position to earn that spot as a rookie strictly due to fan votes. The 19-year-old native of Slovenia has more votes than Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, James Harden and Paul George
