To no one's surprise, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo are your leading vote-getters in the first returns for the 2019 NBA All-Star Game.

As revealed by the NBA early Thursday, James leads all Western Conference players with 1,083,363 fan votes while Antetokounmpo leads all Eastern Conference players with 991,561 fan votes.

While it's true that fan voting accounts for only 50 percent of the vote, with 25 percent coming from the players and the remaining 25 percent coming from writers, this rule only pertains to the starters. In other words, the leading vote-getters of their respective conferences -- in this case, LeBron and Giannis -- would automatically be in the All-Star Game as the captains of their respective teams.

It's no surprise that the aforementioned two players are the leading vote-getters in the early returns of All-Star voting. Both are among the top MVP candidates for the 2018-19 season and each are having sensational seasons. The 24-year-old Antetokounmpo is averaging 26.3 points, 12.6 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.3 steals per game on a robust 58.6 percent from the field while leading the Milwaukee Bucks to the top record in the Eastern Conference.

Meanwhile, the 34-year-old James had led the Lakers to one of the top records in the Western Conference prior to being sidelined by a groin injury on Christmas Day. LeBron is averaging 27.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game on 51.8 percent from the field and 35.6 percent from 3-point range.

However, when you start taking a look at the rest of the balloting, you quickly realize why the NBA changed the voting structure so the process wouldn't purely rely on the fan vote. An aging Dwyane Wade, who is averaging just 14.1 points per game as a bench player for the Miami Heat, is currently second in voting among all East guards. Furthermore, Jeremy Lin is also eighth among all East guards despite averaging roughly 10 points per game as a bench player for the woeful Atlanta Hawks.

But those two may not even take the cake for the most ridiculous revelation of the early All-Star voting returns. Vince Carter, 41, hasn't played in an All-Star Game since 2007 and is averaging a mere 7.4 points per game as a bench member of the Hawks, yet is ranked seventh among all East forwards in voting.

And while it's nice to see that voters are giving rookie Luka Doncic credit for his tremendous rookie season, as he has the second-most fan votes in the West. It's also just as laughable that Derrick Rose is No. 2 in voting among all West guards.

Let's just thank the NBA for ensuring that the voting process for the All-Star Game is no longer a complete joke.