After winning his third MVP award in four years earlier this month, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic topped this year’s All-NBA teams by earning his sixth consecutive selection and fourth overall on Wednesday.
Jokic, who was supplanted on the first team last season by 2022-23 MVP Joel Embiid of Philadelphia, led the voting this year, as the award’s first year was unranked, in part due to the annual feud between the two. for the only first-team All-NBA center spot.
The irony of this this season is that Embiid was one of several players, along with Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, New York Knicks forward Julius Randle and Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler, who arrived to the All-NBA last season but were not eligible. this year due to the newly created 65-game rule for major prizes.
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Despite the rule change, joining Jokic on the first team were the other four players, besides Embiid, who were named to the All-NBA first team last year: Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic, guard of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and the forward of the Milwaukee Bucks, Giannis. Antetokounmpo and Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum.
It was the sixth consecutive first-team selection for Antetokounmpo; fifth consecutive pick for Doncic; the third in a row for Tatum; and the second in a row for Gilgeous-Alexander. Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander were the only unanimous first-team selections.
Doncic became the third player with five All-NBA first-team selections before turning 26, joining Tim Duncan and Kevin Durant.
For Doncic and Gilgeous-Alexander, the All-NBA nods mean they are set for supermax extensions that can be signed in 2025, which would set records.
Doncic can sign a five-year contract worth about $346 million, starting at nearly $60 million in 2026-27 and ending at about $79 million in 2030-31. Gilgeous-Alexander will be eligible to sign a four-year extension worth about $294 million. His would start in 2027-28 at around $65 million, and the final year, 2030-31, would see him earning just over $81 million, or nearly $1 million per game. It would be the first time that an NBA player’s annual salary exceeds $80 million.
Also seeing significant financial boosts thanks to their All-NBA selections were Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (second team) and Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (third team), who agreed to extensions last summer that were worth around $205 million. and will now be worth about $245 million over the next five seasons.
Haliburton is the first Pacers player to make an All-NBA team since Victor Oladipo after the 2017-18 season.
Meanwhile, Knicks guard Jalen Brunson was another first-time pick, making the second team after leading New York to the second round of the playoffs. He is the first Knicks guard to earn an All-NBA selection since Walt “Clyde” Fraizer after the 1974-75 season.
NBA First Team Voting Results*
Player | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | BABY |
---|---|---|---|---|
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC | 99 | 0 | 0 | 495 |
Nikola Jokic, DEN | 99 | 0 | 0 | 495 |
Luka Doncic | 98 | 1 | 0 | 493 |
Giannis Antetokounmpo | 88 | eleven | 0 | 473 |
Jayson Tatum | Sixty-five | 3. 4 | 0 | 427 |
*voting tabulated on a 5-3-1 basis |
Joining Brunson and Edwards on the second team were Phoenix’s Durant, who earned his 11th All-NBA selection, tied for 12th in NBA history; LA Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard, who made the All-NBA for the sixth time and first since 2021; and Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers, who earned his fifth overall All-NBA selection and first since 2020.
Beyond Haliburton on the third team was Sacramento Kings center Domantas Sabonis, who made the second consecutive All-NBA third team; Suns guard Devin Booker, who did it for the second time after making the All-NBA first team in 2022; and Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, who earned the 10th All-NBA selection of his career.
LeBron James, 39, was also selected to the third team, making him the oldest player to make an All-NBA team in NBA history. He was already the youngest player to make the All-NBA when he was chosen to the team for the 2004-05 season.
James has made All-NBA in 20 of his 21 seasons, the most of all time; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Duncan are next with 15 picks each.
James received a first-team vote for All-NBA, meaning he received a first-team vote in 19 of his 21 seasons (the exceptions were 2019 and 2023).
Keynote USA Stats & Information and The Keynote USA contributed to this report.
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