Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Voting for the 2013 NBA All-Star Game starters has ended and the starters will be announced tonight on TNT at 7 p.m. EST.

The fans of course vote for the starters of this game which can be a good thing and a bad thing. By voting fans will of course get to see who they want in this game but there’s also the case where fans really don’t know what they’re talking about it the voting becomes a popularity contest.

So predicting the starters for this game is basically predicting which five players from each conference are the most popular. That makes it pretty easy to do.

There was a change to the voting this year eliminating the center position and instead classifying the voting for two backcourt players and three frontcourt players.

Eastern Conference Backcourt

Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat – 19.9 PPG, 4.4 APG, 4.7 RPG, 22.8 PER

Wade has fallen off somewhat this season but not far enough to miss out on starting in this game. He is still one of the best guards in the league and the competition in the Eastern Conference isn’t enough to knock him off.

Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics – 13.0 PPG, 11.2 APG, 5.1 RPG, 18.5 PER

Rondo is leading the league in assists and having one of the best seasons of his career. He hasn’t taken the leap to stardom quite as much as some expected but he is still one of the best in the league.

Bench: Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers; Deron Williams, Brooklyn Nets; Jrue Holiday, Philadelphia 76ers

Easten Conference Frontcourt

LeBron James, Miami Heat – 26.0 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 6.9 APG, 29.8 PER

LeBron is leading the league in PER for the sixth straight season. He’s coming off the best season of his career and playing this year as well as ever. Most impressively he’s shooting 54.6 percent from the field and 39.8 percent from the 3-point line.

Carmelo Anthony, New York Knicks – 29.3 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 2.4 APG, 25.7 PER

Anthony is also having the best season of his career as the Knicks have gotten off to a great start to the year. Anthony has really found his role on this team and has been shooting the best he’s ever had.

Kevin Garnett, Boston Celtics – 14.6 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 2.1 APG, 18.6 PER

Garnett has the lowest PER this season since his second year in the league back in 1996-97. His numbers don’t tell the whole story though as he is still one of the premiere defenders for his position in the NBA. This is where the voting turns into a popularity contest.

Bench: Chris Bosh, Miami Heat; Tyson Chandler, New York Knicks; Joakim Noah, Chicago Bulls; Josh Smith, Atlanta Hawks

Western Conference Backcourt

Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers – 29.9 PPG, 4.8 APG, 4.9 RPG, 24.9 PER

Kobe is amazingly leading the league in scoring at 34 years of age and shooting the ball the best he’s done in years. The Lakers have really struggled this season and the playoffs are very seriously in jeopardy but that won’t stop Kobe from starting in this game. Kobe will likely finish with more votes than anyone and start in this game for the rest of his career, regardless of whether or not he deserves to.

Chris Paul, Los Angeles Clippers – 16.8 PPG, 9.7 APG, 3.5 RPG, 26.6 PER

Paul and the Clippers are looking like one of the best teams in the league this season. Paul is of course the biggest reason for this as captain of their ship. He’s not having the best season of his career but it should be good enough to land him more votes than Russell Westbrook, James Harden or Jeremy Lin.

Bench: Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder; James Harden, Houston Rockets; Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs

Western Conference Frontcourt

Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder – 28.7 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 4.2 APG, 28.8 PER

Durant is having the best season of his career and the only player in the league who can come close to standing toe-to-toe with LeBron. Durant is having an all-time season shooting the ball as he is currently on pace to become the seventh player ever to join the 50-40-90 club.

Dwight Howard, Los Angeles Lakers – 17.8 PPG, 12.6 RPG, 2.6 BPG, 20.5 PER

Things haven’t gone as planned this season for Howard and the Lakers. Howard still looks hurt and the Lakers aren’t winning. Howard is still leading the league in rebounding but does have his lowest PER since his second season in the league. There may be a few others more deserving than Howard but if he starts, it won’t be the worst thing in the world.

Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers – 17.7 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 3.3 APG, 22.4 PER

Griffin’s numbers are down across the board this season but that also includes his minutes. The Clippers are winning though and Griffin is of course a big part of that. Griffin will definitely make this team because of the popularity factor. The good news is that there is no better player for All-Star Game highlights in the league than Griffin.

Bench: Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs; Marc Gasol, Memphis Grizzlies; Zach Randolph, Memphis Grizzlies; LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland Trail Blazers

Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The third returns are in for the NBA All-Star voting and nothing has changed as far as the starters are concerned.

For the Western Conference, if voting ended today the starters would be: Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and Dwight Howard.

For the Eastern Conference: Rajon Rondo, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James and Kevin Garnett.

Kobe still leads all vote getters with 1,177,456 votes. LeBron is second with 1,151,304 and Durant third with 1,088,797.

Russell Westbrook checks in as the fifth leading vote getter among Western Conference guards with 268,558 votes. He is behind Kobe, Paul, Jeremy Lin and James Harden.

Serge Ibaka is ninth among Western Conference frontcourt players with 134,172 votes. That puts Ibaka right behind Omer Asik and Rudy Gay and right ahead of Marc Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge.

The closest races to overtake current starters are between Garnett and Chris Bosh in the East. Garnett leads Bosh by just under 28,000 votes. Then in the West, Paul leads Lin by only a little over 46,000 votes.

Here are all of the vote totals via NBA.com.

Eastern Conference

Frontcourt
1. LeBron James (Mia) 1,151,304
2. Carmelo Anthony (NYK) 1,054,099
3. Kevin Garnett (Bos) 390,751
4. Chris Bosh (Mia) 362,973
5. Tyson Chandler (NYK) 315,752
6. Paul Pierce (Bos) 205,096
7. Joakim Noah (Chi) 158,743
8. Josh Smith (Atl) 131,508
9. Anderson Varejao (Cle) 116,166
10. Shane Battier (Mia) 107,190
11. Amar’e Stoudemire (NYK) 104,109
12. Andrew Bynum (Phi) 93,611
13. Luol Deng (Chi) 90,736
14. Brook Lopez (BKN) 76,695
15. Jeff Green (Bos) 62,367

Backcourt
1. Dwyane Wade (Mia) 765,077
2. Rajon Rondo (Bos) 675,822
3. Deron Williams (BKN) 350,618
4. Kyrie Irving (Cle) 308,878
5. Ray Allen (Mia) 232,441
6. Monta Ellis (Mil) 84,609
7. Raymond Felton (NYK) 77,123
8. Jrue Holiday (Phi) 66,514
9. Jason Terry (Bos) 62,189
10. Brandon Jennings (Mil) 56,826

Western Conference

Frontcourt
1. Kevin Durant (OKC) 1,088,797
2. Dwight Howard (LAL) 716,671
3. Blake Griffin (LAC) 593,024
4. Tim Duncan (SA) 352,534
5. Pau Gasol (LAL) 239,440
6. Kevin Love (Min) 221,291
7. Omer Asik (Hou) 160,935
8. Rudy Gay (Mem) 140,864
9. Serge Ibaka (OKC) 134,172
10. Marc Gasol (Mem) 114,465
11. LaMarcus Aldridge (Por) 111,156
12. Zach Randolph (Mem) 111,046
13. Dirk Nowitzki (Dal) 106,623
14. Metta World Peace (LAL) 106,025
15. Chandler Parsons (Hou) 93,057

Backcourt
1. Kobe Bryant (LAL) 1,177,456
2. Chris Paul (LAC) 651,893
3. Jeremy Lin (Hou) 605,624
4. James Harden (Hou) 337,585
5. Russell Westbrook (OKC) 268,558
6. Steve Nash (LAL) 202,274
7. Tony Parker (SA) 128,966
8. Ricky Rubio (Min) 112,352
9. Stephen Curry (GS) 97,761
10. Manu Ginobili (SA) 84,564

Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Nothing has changed as the second returns for the NBA All-Star Balloting have been released. LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are still getting more votes than anyone else and Kevin Durant is still the leading frontcourt vote-getter in the Western Conference.

As of right now, the projected starters would go like this:

West: Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, Dwight Howard

East: Rajon Rondo, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett

Again, the new voting format with no center position is so far having no impact on the starters since Howard and Garnett are both centers.

As far as snubs go, Anderson Varejao is probably more deserving to start over Garnett in the Eastern Conference. The same can be said for Tim Duncan starting over Howard in the Western Conference.

Russell Westbrook remains the fifth leading vote-getter among Western Conference guards behind Jeremy Lin and James Harden. Lin actually isn’t that far behind Paul to start for the West which would be a big shame if that somehow occurs.

Serge Ibaka still has an outside shot to make the team with just eight Western Conference frontcourt players ahead of him in the voting. Coaches pick the reserves and Ibaka may get the nod over some players like Omer Asik, Kevin Love or Rudy Gay if he keeps playing so well

Here are the exact vote totals so far courtesy of NBA.com:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Frontcourt: LeBron James (Mia) 970,314; Carmelo Anthony (NYK) 891,759; Kevin Garnett (Bos) 328,716; Chris Bosh (Mia) 308,194; Tyson Chandler (NYK) 260,000; Paul Pierce (Bos) 171,601; Joakim Noah (Chi) 129,331; Josh Smith (Atl) 111,260; Anderson Varejao (Cle) 99,955; Amar’e Stoudemire (NYK) 90,996; Shane Battier (Mia) 88,800; Andrew Bynum (Phi) 84,939; Luol Deng (Chi) 76,400; Brook Lopez (BKN) 67,991; Jeff Green (Bos) 52,785.

Backcourt: Dwyane Wade (Mia) 645,875; Rajon Rondo (Bos) 574,272; Deron Williams (BKN) 309,778; Kyrie Irving (Cle) 258,193; Ray Allen (Mia) 195,142; Monta Ellis (Mil) 71,287; Raymond Felton (NYK) 66,745; Jrue Holiday (Phi) 56,683; Jason Terry (Bos) 52,833; Brandon Jennings (Mil) 49,122.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Frontcourt: Kevin Durant (OKC) 924,898; Dwight Howard (LAL) 616,150; Blake Griffin (LAC) 489,795; Tim Duncan (SA) 299,434; Pau Gasol (LAL) 197,377; Kevin Love (Min) 189,949; Omer Asik (Hou) 131,002; Rudy Gay (Mem) 125,562; Serge Ibaka (OKC) 111,963; Marc Gasol (Mem) 99,271; Zach Randolph (Mem) 97,778; LaMarcus Aldridge (Por) 97,090; Dirk Nowitzki (Dal) 93,491; Metta World Peace (LAL) 85,279; Chandler Parsons (Hou) 78,235.

Backcourt: Kobe Bryant (LAL) 977,444; Chris Paul (LAC) 542,564; Jeremy Lin (Hou) 496,133; James Harden (Hou) 283,691; Russell Westbrook (OKC) 232,074; Steve Nash (LAL) 166,262; Tony Parker (SA) 111,032; Ricky Rubio (Min) 96,466; Stephen Curry (GS) 78,380; Manu Ginobili (SA) 70,813.