If the NBA All-Star Game were held today, Amare Stoudemire of the New York Knicks would be a starter. Stoudemire is second among forwards in the Eastern Conference, behind LeBron James of the Miami Heat and in front of Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics.
↵Right now, the Eastern Conference lineup would be Stoudemire and James at forward, Dwight Howard of Orlando at center and Dwayne Wade (Miami) and Derrick Rose (Chicago). Howard is the conference's leading vote-getter.
↵Kobe Bryant is the overall leading vote-getter. He would be joined in the starting lineup by Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City), Carmelo Anthony (Denver), Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets and Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets. Ming, of course, is injured.
↵Paper balloting will continue through Jan. 17, while wireless balloting and voting on NBA.com will conclude Jan. 23.
↵In an oddity, if Anthony is traded to the New York Knicks he could wind up knocking Stoudemire out of a starting spot. His votes would transfer to the Eastern Conference, and Stoudemire currently has about 200,000 more votes.
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