LeBron James

LeBron James' last All-Star Game as a Cavalier was in 2010 in Arlington, Texas.

(LM Otero)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- LeBron James will make his 11th consecutive start for the Eastern Conference in next month's All-Star Game at Madison Square Garden.

James was the East's top vote getter with 1.47 million votes, but he was edged out by Golden State's Stephen Curry for the most fan votes overall with 1.51 million, according to voting results announced Thursday on TNT.

The fans select the starters, by position. James had won the most votes in the NBA on three earlier occasions and led Curry by about 13,000 votes on Jan. 8, but a two-week hiatus because of injury around that time may have played a role in Curry overtaking him by nearly 43,000 votes.

LeBron James is introduced at the 2010 NBA All-Star Game at Cowboys Stadium.

James, a two-time Most Valuable Player of the All-Star Game, was the only Cavalier voted in as a starter. That's bad news for Cleveland point guard Kyrie Irving, who was voted in last year and won MVP honors.

Starters selected for the 64th All-Star Game, which is Feb. 15 at 8:30 p.m., were frontcourt players James, Carmelo Anthony (New York), and Pau Gasol (Chicago), and guards Kyle Lowry (Toronto) and John Wall (Washington) for the East.

Guards Curry and Kobe Bryant (L.A. Lakers), and frontcourt players Anthony Davis (New Orleans), Blake Griffin (L.A. Clippers), and Marc Gasol (Memphis) were selected for the West, though Bryant was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff on Thursday that in all likelihood would keep him out of the game.

James is second in the NBA in scoring this season, averaging 26 points. He's also averaging 5.5 rebounds, and 7.4 assists in his return season with the Cavaliers after four years in Miami.

It's been an up-and-down return. James has missed nine games due to injury, and the Cavs are 23-20 and in fifth place in the East.

Had Irving made the cut, he stood to earn an extra $7-$10 million because of a rule in the current collective bargaining agreement commonly called the "Derrick Rose" provision. The CBA as it relates to player salaries is often complicated, but, the five-year, $90 million contract extension Irving signed with the Cavaliers last summer made him eligible for an even higher earning rate if he were to meet certain criteria.

Irving's two chances for the higher rate -- which would be based on next year's salary cap, which has not yet been set -- were to either earn fan votes into the All-Star Game this season or win the league's Most Valuable Player award, which is highly unlikely.

Irving finished fourth in fan voting among guards, also trailing Miami's Dwyane Wade.

Now, the fates of Irving and Cavs forward Kevin Love (who was sixth among Eastern frontcourt players) to play as a reserve are up to Eastern conference coaches -- who must vote for two guards, three frontcourt players and two players regardless of position.

Cleveland coach David Blatt may not vote for Irving or Love. Irving is averaging 21 points and 5.3 assists, while Love is averaging 17.7 points and 10.4 boards this season. Reserves will be announced Jan. 29.

As for James, his two All-Star MVPs came representing the Cavaliers in 2006 and 2008.

LeBron James dunks during the 2010 NBA All-Star Game.

But in his first All-Star appearance for the Miami Heat, in 2011, James became the second player in All-Star history to record a triple double. The next year, James scored a personal All-Star-best 36 points.

This season, the NBA's Rising Stars Challenge and All-Star Saturday (which includes the three-point and slam-dunk contests) will be held at Brooklyn's Barclays Center, with the game moving up to Manhattan on Sunday.

James has never participated in a dunk contest and isn't about to now, having just missed two weeks because of nagging back and knee injuries.

Nonetheless, an apparent non-profit group based in Venice, Calif., is attempting to shame James into entering the dunk contest by raising money for the Boys & Girls Club of America -- only to be delivered if he dunks. James has been the subject of numerous challenges, stunts, and other strategies to coax him into the contest.

The group, called Challeng.org, posted a YouTube video of an African-American child issuing the challenge to James and suggesting "this is how 'Bron 'Bron gets his swag back."

A spokesman for James had no comment, but each year the LeBron James Family Foundation works with the Boys & Girls Club in the All-Star Game's host city on a charitable project.

James' foundation will renovate two Boys & Girls clubs in or near Brooklyn and Manhattan.