NEW YORK - Injured Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, who may not be able to play in next month's NBA All-Star Game, still leads all players in the latest returns of fan balloting announced Thursday.

Houston Rockets' Yao Ming of China celebrates during their NBA game against the Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles December 15, 2006. [Reuters]

Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James walks off the court after losing to the Chicago Bulls during their NBA basketball game in Chicago December 30, 2006. [Reuters]

Sidelined for at least six weeks and perhaps longer with a fractured tibia suffered December 23, Yao has received 1,629,832 votes to start for the Western Conference All-Stars on February 18 in Las Vegas.

Since being taken with the top overall pick in the 2002 draft, Yao has been voted as the West's starting center in each of his first four years. He is more than 1 million votes ahead of Amare Stoudemire of the Phoenix Suns and has led in total votes each of the last two seasons.

Leading the Eastern Conference in balloting is Cleveland Cavaliers superstar forward LeBron James, who has received 1,587,738 votes.

Denver Nuggets guard Allen Iverson remains third in the balloting behind Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers and Tracy McGrady of Houston.

Iverson, who was acquired from Philadelphia last month, originally was listed on the East portion of the ballot and has 1,157,031 votes, considerably behind Bryant (1,386,477) but within striking distance of McGrady (1,205,510).

If Iverson finishes among the top two, he would become just the second player since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976 to be voted as a starter following a mid-season trade and the first to do it while changing conferences. Vince Carter was voted as a starter after being traded from Toronto to New Jersey in 2004.

Kevin Garnett of the Minnesota Timberwolves (947,040) and Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs (852,827) are the West leaders at forward. Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks is third with 794,581 votes.

The East also has an injury situation at center, although it should be resolved before the game.

Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal, who has been sidelined since November following knee surgery but is expected to return later this month, leads with 1,013,747 votes, over 200,000 more than Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic.

The East's leading forwards are James and Chris Bosh of the Toronto Raptors, who just returned from injury. Bosh has 589,829 votes, approximately 58,000 more than Jermaine O'Neal of the Indiana Pacers.

At guard for the East are Carter (867,437) and Heat guard Dwyane Wade (1,191,403). Gilbert Arenas of the Washington Wizards is a distant third with 647,281 votes.

Balloting is conducted in arenas, on the league's web site and in several locations in Las Vegas, among other places. It continues through January 15 for paper balloting and January 21 for online balloting.

The starters will be announced Jan. 25 and reserves - selected by coaches in each conference -- will be revealed February 1, both on cable network TNT.