Kobe Bryant named to All-NBA 1st team; Dwight Howard on 3rd team

Kobe Bryant was named to his 11th All-NBA first team on Thursday, joining LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Tim Duncan and Chris Paul for the 2012-13 season.

With the honor, Bryant joins Karl Malone with the most first-team selections in league history. The Lakers guard was previously tied at 10 with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Michael Jordan, Bob Cousy and Bob Pettit.

This was Bryant’s eighth-straight selection to the first team. Voting was done by a panel of 119 sportswriters and broadcasters.

James led with 595 points followed by Durant with 555. Clippers point guard Paul had 537 points, ahead of Bryant’s 521. Duncan rounded out the first team with 392 points.

Blake Griffin, Carmelo Anthony, Tony Parker, Russell Westbrook and Marc Gasol were named to the All-NBA second team.

Lakers center Dwight Howard was named to the All-NBA third team (with 203 points) along with James Harden, Dwyane Wade, David Lee and Paul George.

Forward/center Pau Gasol also received votes (four points).

ALSO:

Phil Jackson skeptical that Dwight Howard has reason to return to Lakers

Mike D’Antoni passes on Team USA assistant position, report says

Stan Van Gundy thinks Dwight Howard wasn’t happy with Lakers role

Email Eric Pincus at eric.pincus@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @EricPincus.