Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

The first returns for NBA All-Star voting were announced today and Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant checks in with the third most votes so far with 605,955. Only LeBron James (641,348) and Kobe Bryant (639,419) have more votes so far.

The voting changed this year so that fans will no longer be voting for the center position and instead two guards and three frontcourt players to determine who starts.

The current leaders to start in the Western Conference would be Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and Dwight Howard. In the Eastern Conference it would be Rajon Rondo, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James and Kevin Garnett.

So at this instance the removal of the center position would have no impact on the starters since Howard and Garnett are both centers this year.

Russell Westbrook is likely a lock to make the team as he has received the fifth most votes so far among Western guards. James Harden is ahead of him at fourth while Jeremy Lin is third.

Serge Ibaka has some work to do to be a serious prospect to make the team with eight frontcourt players currently receiving more votes than him.

Here are the vote totals so far:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Frontcourt: LeBron James (Mia) 641,348; Carmelo Anthony (NYK) 573,112; Kevin Garnett (Bos) 218,246; Chris Bosh (Mia) 210,724; Tyson Chandler (NYK) 151,744; Paul Pierce (Bos) 114,735; Joakim Noah (Chi) 73,366; Josh Smith (Atl) 69,344; Andrew Bynum (Phi) 68,596; Amar’e Stoudemire (NYK) 64,266; Shane Battier (Mia) 59,419; Anderson Varejao (Cle) 57,336; Luol Deng (Chi) 48,450; Brook Lopez (BKN) 47,940; Jeff Green (Bos) 36,080.

Backcourt: Dwyane Wade (Mia) 430,925; Rajon Rondo (Bos) 382,613; Deron Williams (BKN) 211,426; Kyrie Irving (Cle) 155,989; Ray Allen (Mia) 130,016; Monta Ellis (Mil) 47,650; Raymond Felton (NYK) 37,974; Jason Terry (Bos) 36,147; Brandon Jennings (Mil) 35,610; Jrue Holiday (Phi) 35,193.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Frontcourt: Kevin Durant (OKC) 605,965; Dwight Howard (LAL) 434,168; Blake Griffin (LAC) 307,855; Tim Duncan (SA) 189,577; Pau Gasol (LAL) 139,868; Kevin Love (Min) 112,922; Omer Asik (Hou) 88,178; Rudy Gay (Mem) 85,279; Serge Ibaka (OKC) 68,285; LaMarcus Aldridge (Por) 66,290; Dirk Nowitzki (Dal) 63,056; Marc Gasol (Mem) 61,716; Zach Randolph (Mem) 59,916; Metta World Peace (LAL) 59,167; Anthony Davis (NO) 53,779.

Backcourt: Kobe Bryant (LAL) 639,419; Chris Paul (LAC) 353,603; Jeremy Lin (Hou) 298,319; James Harden (Hou) 196,108; Russell Westbrook (OKC) 143,437; Steve Nash (LAL) 118,073; Tony Parker (SA) 69,983; Ricky Rubio (Min) 54,744; Manu Ginobili (SA) 47,800; O.J. Mayo (Dal) 36,495.

Balloting will conclude on Jan. 14 and the starters will be announced live on TNT on Jan. 17.

Kevin Durant surprised no one by being the MVP of the All-Star Game last night in Orlando as the West beat the East 152-149.

Durant was my prediction to win the award and I have never really felt more confident in a pick. Although it was close at the end and had the East won, LeBron James certainly would have won it, Durant did exactly what I expected to capture the MVP.

Durant came out looking for his shot right away and no one was going to play hard enough defense to get in his way. His 36 points were tied with James for the game-high.

Durant’s teammate Russell Westbrook also played a nice game with 21 points and 17 in the first half including this thunderous dunk in crunch time.

Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE

Kevin Durant scored 36 points and took home MVP honors as the Western Conference All-Stars beat the Eastern Conference 152-149 in Orlando, Fla. Sunday night.

The West was leading for most of the game and by 20 points or more for a large portion but the East charged back in the second half with some hot three-point shooting.

LeBron James led the East with 36 points also and made 6-of-8 threes. He did commit the costly turnover in the final minutes trying a skip pass across his body giving the West the opportunity to seal the deal at the free throw line.

By the fourth quarter it really came down to Durant vs. James and whichever team won would determine the player as MVP. Neither was terrific or clutch in the final minutes but they were still the two clear-cut best players in the game.

Kobe Bryant scored 27 points in the game and Russell Westbrook 21 including 17 in the first half.

Dwyane Wade had a triple-double for the East with a 24-10-10 line and Dwight Howard was his usual too laid back self in the All-Star Game scoring just nine points and going 0-for-4 on threes.

Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

The game lacked intensity until the final minutes as is expected but there were quite a few nice highlights in the first half. Chris Paul orchestrated the highlighting attack setting up Blake Griffin for some nice slams.

With Thunder coach Scott Brooks coaching the West, Durant may have had an extra advantage over everyone else to win the MVP. Durant played the entire first and third quarters and totaled 37 minutes in the game. Durant simply has a better knack for scoring than anyone else and is relentless even at half speed to find shots for himself.

The play by Durant and Westbrook should be viewed as a sort of message to the rest of the league. They are the real deal this year and should be considered the team to beat in the West. There’s been a lot of talk by a lot of players and media lately of how the West is wide open and the Thunder should take that personally.

Durant and Westbrook looked as good as James and Wade did tonight and that’s saying something. They’re hungry and gave the fans what they wanted tonight by playing harder than anyone else.

Kevin Durant finished second in the Foot Locker Three-Point Contest after losing the tiebreaker shootout to Kevin Love in the finals.

Durant posted a score of just 14 in the final while Love hit 17.

Durant had his best round in the first making 20 of the possible 30 points. James Jones had the best round of the night with 22 in the first but had just 12 in the second.

Durant finished last a year ago in the contest with only seven points. He seemed motivated to come out and shoot better tonight but didn’t make the money balls when he needed them.

With the dunk contest being so horrible it really was kind of up to Durant to put on a show in this contest. After 20 in the first round it seemed like a big number like 25 could have been possible for him.

Tomorrow night the real show will be put on by the NBA All-Stars in the All-Star Game. There we will actually see some basketball and the in-game dunks will no doubt top what we saw tonight.

The NBA Sprite Slam Dunk Contest hit an all-time low tonight. And to think I actually had any sort of expectations.

Everything about it was horrible beginning with the painfully forced emphasis on creativity. There were about three good dunks out of the 12 and the best ones didn’t even come on the first attempt.

It’s pretty obvious how now we need stars in this competition now. It’s all up to LeBron James really. He has the chance to save the dunk contest by competing in it next year. But just like he decided not to go play in New York and save the Knicks, he probably won’t due this either.

Utah Jazz benchwarmer Jeremy Evans won the contest with 29 percent of the popular vote. Out of four guys 25 percent would have been a tie so at least it was one of the closest dunk contests in history.

The silver lining was the performance by the TNT crew and Charles Barkley in particular. They were great and provided some laugh out loud moments. They knew it was terrible and Barkley didn’t hold back and was honest as usual.

The three-point contest is really the only decent thing left and I’m sure a lot of people are burnt out on that too. It always seems to provide some drama though and basketball junkies have to love seeing great shooters go through that drill.

Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant had a chance in the three-point contest but fell just short losing to Kevin Love in the finals. The greatest possible outcome of the night would have been is Durant just went stupid in the three-point contest and hit like 25.

Excitement was not in the cards tonight though.

Until the best players start competing in the dunk contest and take pride in winning it, the contest will continue to die and rightfully so.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

It’s All-Star Saturday Night tonight and that means it’s time for the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest, Foot Locker Three-Point Contest and Taco Bell Skills Challenge.

Last year the Thunder had one player participating in each with Serge Ibaka in the dunk contest, Kevin Durant in the three-point shootout and Russell Westbrook in the skills challenge. This year Durant and Westbrook will be back but not Ibaka.

Durant is only in the three-point contest because he is replacing Joe Johnson who originally was selected over him. Last year Durant did not fare well finishing last with only seven points. Durant should be more motivated tonight and his shooting stroke is made for the competition.

James Jones is the defending champ and will be Durant’s toughest competition. Ryan Anderson is the hometown favorite in Orlando. Anthony Morrow is the guy who can get hotter than anyone else and had a 40-point game earlier this season in which he hit eight threes.

The dunk contest will not consist of any stars this year which has been a common trend in recent history. Aside from Dwight Howard and Blake Griffin there haven’t been any big named players taking part in the contest.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

The dunk contest has definitely lost its’ luster but should be interesting nonetheless. There will be only one round this year with the winner being determined entirely by the fans’ vote.

Derrick Williams, Chase Budinger, Paul George and Jeremy Evans will compete. Evans is replacing the original selection of Iman Shumpert. Each contestant will hopefully bring something unique to the competition.

Williams is known for his gorilla slams and his dunks are always clean and look nice when they go down. Budinger could be the creative one this year and has an advantage in being a sneaky, good jumper. George has some Dominque Wilkins dunks in his arsenal and already displayed one in a game earlier this year. Evans is the guy no one really knows about but apparently jumps out of the gym more so than anyone else in the contest.

With there being no one who should steal the popular vote I feel Evans might be the favorite despite being the alternate selection. The anecdotes about his hops from practices and the few minutes he’s seen in games seem to trump anything any of the other players are bringing to the floor.

It’s just always so hard not to imagine what the dunk contest could be if LeBron James, Dwyane Wade or Durant were in it. The biggest complaint about the contest now is that we’ve seen every dunk before. That wouldn’t matter if this star power was in it because we’d care more about the players and not the dunks.

All of the competitions will begin tonight at 8:30 P.M. EST on TNT.

This year the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge will introduce a new format to the game that historically featured the NBA’s rookies facing off against the sophomores.

Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal each drafted teams this year so the players are mixed but the pool still consists of just first and second year players.

The best part about this draft has resulted in Ricky Rubio and Blake Griffin being paired together on Team Shaq. Rubio is already one of the best passers in the NBA this season and we all know the kind of things Griffin can do with a lob pass.

Oklahoma City Thunder rookie point guard Reggie Jackson will not compete in the game. Jackson isn’t having the greatest rookie season, now getting run with Eric Maynor lost for the year with an injury, but has been better lately and is showing promise.

Jackson has played 28 games this season and is averaging 3.7 points and 1.7 assists in 11.9 minutes per game. In February those numbers have risen slightly and will hopefully continue to rise for the Thunder this year.

Jackson holds a crucial position for the Thunder as their backup point guard. Russell Westbrook isn’t exactly a true point guard and it was always nice when Maynor would come in because he was a true point guard that could run an offense.

James Harden has stepped up this year as the playmaker for the second unit for the Thunder but if Jackson can produce a little more scoring and playmaking then the Thunder will become a much better team.

Jackson’s absence in the Rising Stars Challenge is also in part to the deep talent at his position. Rubio, Jeremy Lin, John Wall, Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker, Norris Cole and Brandon Knight are all point guards in the game.

Thunder fans will have to wait until Saturday night to see a Thunder player compete at All-Star Weekend with Westbrook in the Skills Challenge and Kevin Durant in the Three-Point Contest.