Phoenix Suns have 3 players on NBA All-Star ballot

The Phoenix Suns announced that guard Goran Dragic, center Marcin Gortat and forward Luis Scola will be on the 2013 NBA All-Star ballot. Voting for All-Stars began on Tuesday.

Through eight games, Dragic is averaging 16.6 points and 7.5 assists per game. Gortat leads Phoenix with 10.8 rebounds and 3.6 blocks per game, and Scola is averaging 14.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.

A total of 120 players are on the ballot, and they were chosen by a small media panel. At 60 players per each conference, the new format labels players as guards and frontcourt players after the center position was nixed from the voting. 36 guards and 24 forwards were picked from each conference.

The players making the All-Star teams will be announced on Jan. 17, and voting will end on Jan. 14.

The NBA announced that voting will be available across social media networks for the first time. Fans can vote on Facebook through a custom application, on Twitter (votes must include the first and last name of each player with the hashtag #NBABALLOT) or through SMS texts by texting the player's last name to 6-9-6-2-2 ("MYNBA"). Fans can also vote on NBA.com.

The 2013 NBA All-Star game is on Feb. 17, 2013, and will be held at Houston's Toyota Center.