NEW YORK, USA (AFP) — Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant tops the early returns in NBA All-Star voting, and Tracy McGrady is on track to start alongside him even though McGrady hasn’t played yet this season.

In the first set of returns of fan balloting announced yesterday, Bryant had more than 692,000 votes. That’s about 20,000 more than Eastern Conference leader Dwyane Wade of Miami.

Also on track to start for the Western Conference are NBA leading scorer Carmelo Anthony and Dirk Nowitzki at forwards, and Amare Stoudemire at centre.

McGrady is nearing a return from microfracture knee surgery, but even though he hasn’t played yet this season he led Phoenix point guard Steve Nash by more than 9,000 votes for the West’s second guard spot.

Many of McGrady’s votes could be coming from China, where he is a popular figure as Yao Ming’s longtime teammate in Houston.

LeBron James and Kevin Garnett lead at the East forward position, Dwight Howard has a huge advantage over Shaquille O’Neal, and his Orlando teammate Vince Carter is second among guards.

The All-Star game is February 14, and will be held at the new Cowboys Stadium in suburban Dallas.

The state of the art, retractable roof NFL facility opened this year. Other events of the All-Star weekend, including the Rookie Challenge and NBA All-Star Saturday Night festivities, will take place at a more traditional basketball venue — the Dallas Mavericks’ American Airlines Center.

It will mark the first time All-Star competitions have been split between two venues since Houston in 1989, when the Rockets’ arena hosted some events and the game itself was played at the Astrodome.

Starters, all selected in fan voting, will be announced January 21 and reserves will be chosen a week later.