Arenas is elected an All-Star starter

Gilbert Arenas pulled out another late victory.

The Washington Wizards standout surged past Vince Carter in the final days of All-Star voting to claim the second Eastern Conference guard spot by 3,010 votes Thursday, the fourth-closest margin ever for a starting spot.

LeBron James led all players with more than 2.5 million votes for the Feb. 18 game in Las Vegas.

The first All-Star game held in a city that doesn’t have an NBA team will maintain one traditional look: Shaquille O’Neal was chosen to his 14th straight All-Star game, tying Jerry West and Karl Malone for the most consecutive selections.

Arenas was 214,460 votes behind Carter two weeks ago but finished with 1,454,166 to Carter’s 1,451,156.

Arenas, O’Neal and James will be joined in the East lineup by Dwyane Wade and another first-time starter, Toronto forward Chris Bosh.

Injured Houston center Yao Ming led all West players with more than 2.4 million votes. Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan were voted in at forward, and Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady won the guard spots.

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X-rays on James’ sore right big toe were negative, and the Cavaliers hope he doesn’t have to sit out any games. He was injured during the recent Western trip and aggravated it this week.

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Flopping, already illegal in international play, might become illegal in the NBA too.

The NBA is studying how often flopping occurs and whether officials can tell the difference between flops and actual fouls, Stu Jackson, the NBA’s executive vice president for basketball operations, told Bloomberg News. A technical foul would be the penalty for flopping.

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Former NBA player Robert Traylor pleaded guilty in Detroit to preparing a false tax return after hiding assets for a convicted drug dealer.

Traylor, 29, faces up to 14 months in prison.

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The New York Knicks are the NBA’s most valuable franchise despite nearly $40 million in operating losses last season, according to a list compiled by Forbes.

The Knicks topped the list for the second straight year with a value of $592 million, up 9% from last year. The Lakers were second at $568 million, and the Dallas Mavericks had a 15% jump after their first NBA Finals appearance and were third at $463 million. Chicago ($461 million) and Houston ($439 million) rounded out the top five.

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All-Star lineups

Starters for the West and East and their total votes received. The All-Star game will be played Feb. 18 at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

*--* WESTERN CONFERENCE POSITION PLAYER, TEAM VOTES Guard KOBE BRYANT, LAKERS 2,138,777 Guard Tracy McGrady, Houston 1,942,796 Center Yao Ming, Houston 2,451,718 Forward Kevin Garnett, Minnesota 1,616,575 Forward Tim Duncan, San Antonio 1,436,584

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*--* EASTERN CONFERENCE POSITION PLAYER, TEAM VOTES Guard Gilbert Arenas, Washington 1,454,166 Guard Dwyane Wade, Miami 2,029,591 Center Shaquille O’Neal, Miami 1,622,446 Forward LeBron James, Cleveland 2,516,049 Forward Chris Bosh, Toronto 1,091,263

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