The National Basketball Association has released the third return of All-Star voting with Lebron James still leading the way. The Miami Heat star topped all players with 1,076,063 votes, followed by Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder who has 1,054,209.

For the Eastern Conference front court, the top vote getters are Indian Pacers Paul George, New York Knicks Carmelo Anthony, and Pacers' Roy Hibbert. For its back court, Miami Dwyane Wade (718,109), and Kyrie Irving (652,522) set the pace.

For the Western Conference first five, Durant is expected to get a help from Houston Rockets' Dwight Howard and Los Angeles Clippers Blake Griffin in the front line. Their playmakers will be Los Angele Lakers Kobe Bryant (the 4^th highest vote getter) and Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry. The biggest gainer since December is Curry who was able to move past Chris Paul to reach 2^nd place in West Team back court.

Other players expected to make it to New Orleans games are Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge, Tim Duncan, Anthony Davis, John Wall, Chris Bosh, Ray Allen, and Deron Williams.

Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul are still injured, which makes it possible for Jeremy Lin and James Harden to take the starting spot in the February 16 festivities. Bryant even called on his fans to vote for Portland Trailblazers PG Damien Lillard instead since he "probably won't be able to come back (to the Lakers) soon enough to be able to make my stamp or be able to make my mark on a game."

"So my advice would be to focus on younger players, the Damian Lillards of the world, because they're more than deserving to be out there and playing that weekend," he said.

According to the NBA website, fans can vote for their favorite players until January 20, with the starts expected to be announced on January 23 during a special one-hour edition of the Emmy Award-winning pregame show Inside the NBA at 7 p.m. ET.