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, the second Canadian to be so honoured — 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.
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 , Cleveland's Kenny Atkinson winning , Atlanta's Dyson Daniels winning , San Antonio's Stephon Castle winning , Mobley winning , Brunson winning , and Boston's Payton Pritchard winning .
Also chosen by that panel: the All-NBA team, along with the team and team.
There were other awards chosen through various other voting processes, including Oklahoma City’s Sam Presti winning , Boston’s Jrue Holiday winning the and , Curry winning the , and Golden State's Draymond Green winning .
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AP NBA:
Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
