Two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the league’s first-ever unanimous Defensive Player of the Year Victor Wembanyama were named to the All-NBA first team on Sunday (24 May) ahead of their Western Conference finals Game 4 clash.
The Oklahoma City Thunder’s Gilgeous-Alexander made the first team for the fourth straight year. Wembanyama – the first San Antonio Spurs player on the first team since Kawhi Leonard (2016-17), now with the Los Angeles Clippers – won his first career All-NBA selection.
The two were joined by the Denver Nuggets’s Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers and Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons. The All-NBA teams are the last of the league’s season-ending honours.
Making up the second team were: Jaylen Brown (Boston Celtics), Jalen Brunson (New York Knicks), Kevin Durant (Houston Rockets), Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Leonard.
The third team was comprised of five first-time All-NBA selections: Jalen Johnson (Atlanta Hawks), Jalen Duren (Pistons), Tyrese Maxey (Philadelphia 76ers), Chet Holmgren (Thunder) and Jamal Murray (Nuggets).
The Lakers’s LeBron James was ineligible because he played fewer than 65 games. He missed being an All-NBA for only the second time in his career of 23 seasons.