Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo were the only players to appear on every MVP ballot this season.
It only made sense that they would be unanimous All-NBA picks as well.
Gilgeous-Alexander — the league’s MVP — along with Jokic and Antetokounmpo were unveiled Friday night as first-team All-NBA players, along with Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell.
Tatum was another unanimous first-team pick. Mitchell made the first team for the first time.
Antetokounmpo has seven first-team selections and nine appearances on the All-NBA team overall. Jokic is a five-time first-teamer and seven-time All-NBA pick, Tatum is first-team for the fourth time (fifth overall), Gilgeous-Alexander has been first-team in all three of his All-NBA appearances, and Mitchell is All-NBA for the second time in his career.
Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic, Antetokounmpo and Tatum were all first-teamers last season as well.
Second team
LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers is an All-NBA player for the 21st time in 22 seasons. He made the second team.
Also on the second team: Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards, Cleveland’s Evan Mobley, Golden State’s Stephen Curry and New York’s Jalen Brunson.
Curry made All-NBA for the 11th time, something only 21 players in NBA history have done. Edwards and Brunson are two-time All-NBA players, and Mobley made a team for the first time.
Third team
Detroit’s Cade Cunningham, Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton, the Los Angeles Clippers’ James Harden, New York’s Karl-Anthony Towns and Oklahoma City’s Jalen Williams were named to the third team.
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Harden is an eight-time selection, Towns is a three-time pick, Haliburton made a team for the second time and Cunningham and Williams both are All-NBA for the first time.
All 100 ballots
Eight players appeared on every ballot. Antetokounmpo, Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic and Tatum all got 100 first-team votes.
Mitchell got 61 first-team votes, 35 second-team and four third-team. Edwards got 11 first-team, 87 second-team and two third-team. Curry got two first-team, 68 second-team and 30 third-team. And Brunson got two first-team, 62 second-team and 36 third-team.
James and Cunningham were on 99 of 100 ballots.
Giannis: The people’s choice, again
For the eighth consecutive year, Antetokounmpo was listed on every All-NBA ballot. That’s the longest active run in the NBA.
The last time an All-NBA ballot was sent to the league without Antetokounmpo’s name listed was 2017, when four of the 100 voters didn’t rank him among the league’s top players.
Since then: 799 ballots cast, 799 listing Antetokounmpo.
Jokic appeared on every All-NBA ballot for the fifth consecutive year; it would be six in a row if he hadn’t fallen one vote short of unanimous status in 2020. Jayson Tatum was on every All-NBA ballot for the fourth consecutive season.
LeBron: The first at 40
James is the first 40-year-old to make an All-NBA team — he turned 40 in December.
James has 13 first-team appearances, four second-team selections and four third-team nods.
No other player has more than 15 All-NBA selections. Kobe Bryant (11 first-team picks), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (10 first-team picks) and Tim Duncan (10 first-team picks) are the other members of the 15-time club.
Awards season
The release of the All-NBA teams wrapped up awards season in the league. A global panel of 100 writers and broadcasters sent their votes to the NBA before the playoffs started.
Those awards voted on by the panel included Gilgeous-Alexander winning MVP, Cleveland’s Kenny Atkinson winning coach of the year, Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels winning most improved player, San Antonio’s Stephon Castle winning rookie of the year, Mobley winning defensive player of the year, Brunson winning clutch player of the year, and Boston’s Payton Pritchard winning sixth man of the year.
Also chosen by that panel: the All-NBA team, along with the All-Defensive team and All-Rookie team.
There were other awards chosen through various other voting processes, including Oklahoma City’s Sam Presti winning executive of the year, Boston’s Jrue Holiday winning the social justice award and the sportsmanship award, Curry winning the Twyman-Stokes teammate of the year award, and Golden State’s Draymond Green winning the hustle award.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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