The NBA released the first results of fan voting for the 2012 NBA All-Star Game on Thursday, which the Orlando Magic will host on February 26th, and Magic star Dwight Howard leads all vote-getters, earning the nod at center for the Eastern Conference on 754,737 ballots. That's more than 10 times as many votes as second-place center Joakim Noah of the Chicago Bulls.
Unsurprisingly, Howard is the only Magic player the fans will vote in; though Hedo Turkoglu, Jameer Nelson, and Jason Richardson also represent Orlando on the ballot, only Turkoglu appeared among the first voting results, ranking 10th among Eastern forwards.
The other leaders in the East are Derrick Rose and Dwyane Wade at the guards, with LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony at the forwards. Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant paces the Western Conference with 690,613 votes. Also due to represent the West are Chris Paul at guard, Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin at forward, and Andrew Bynum at center.
The NBA will announce the starting lineups for the All-Star Game on February 2nd in a one-hour special broadcast by TNT.