Toronto Raptors forward Andrea Bargnani drives to the basket.MIKE CASSESE
Toronto Raptors Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani are both third in voting for the NBA's Eastern Conference all-star team, while Victoria's Steve Nash is third among guards in the West.
Bosh, who is seeking to make his fourth consecutive all-star appearance, has 303,550 votes in the first set of returns announced Thursday, and trails Cleveland's LeBron James (649,327) and Boston's Kevin Garnett (533,187) in voting for Eastern forwards.
Bargnani ranks third among Eastern centres with 67,310 votes, well back of Orlando's Dwight Howard (625,279) and Cleveland's Shaquille O'Neal (206,657).
Nash has 272,135 votes, but the Phoenix Suns guard trails Houston's Tracy McGrady, who has 281,545 votes despite having not played a game this season. McGrady, who is nearing a return from microfracture knee surgery, is likely benefiting from his popularity in China as Yao Ming's longtime teammate with the Rockets.
Kobe Bryant tops the guards in the West, and is the leading vote-getter with more than 692,000 votes, about 20,000 more than East leader Dwyane Wade. Also on track to start for the West are NBA leading scorer Carmelo Anthony and Dirk Nowitzki at forwards, and Amare Stoudemire at centre.
Toronto's Jose Calderon ranks ninth among guards in the East while Hedo Turkoglu ranks ninth among forwards.
The all-star game is Feb. 14 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Starters will be announced Jan. 21 and reserves will be chosen a week later.
- With files from The Associated Press.