After winning his third Most Valuable Player award in four years earlier this month, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic headlined this year’s All-NBA teams by earning his sixth All-NBA selection in a row, and his fourth first-team selection overall.
Jokic, who was supplanted on the first team last season by 2022-23 MVP Joel Embiid of Philadelphia, led the balloting this year, the first year of the award being positionless — in part because of the annual slugfest between the two of them for the one first-team All-NBA center spot.
The irony of that 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 made All-NBA last season but wasn’t eligible this year due to the newly created 65-game rule for top awards.
Despite the rule change, joining Jokic on the first-team were the other four players besides Embiid who were named first-team All-NBA last year: Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum.
It was the sixth straight first-team selection for Antetokounmpo; fifth straight selection for Doncic; the third straight for Tatum; and the second straight for Gilgeous-Alexander. Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander were both unanimous selections.
Doncic became the third player with five first-team All-NBA selections before turning 26, joining Tim Duncan and Kevin Durant.
The headline after that was a pair of first-time selections — Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, who made second team, and Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, who made third team. Their selections made them eligible for supermax contract extensions this summer.
Both Edwards and Haliburton, due to making All-NBA, will earn roughly $40 million more over the next five years than they would’ve had they not made it, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks, as their five-year contract extensions will now be worth $245 million.
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, meanwhile, was another first-time selection, making the second team after leading New York into the second round of the playoffs. Along with Brunson and Edwards on the second team were Phoenix‘s Durant, who earned his 11th All-NBA selection overall; LA Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard, who made All-NBA for a sixth time, and the first since 2021; and the Los Angeles Lakers‘ Anthony Davis, who picked up his fifth overall All-NBA selection and first since 2020.
LeBron James, 39, was also selected to the third team, making him the oldest player to make an All-NBA team in NBA history.
James has now made All-NBA in 20 of his 21 seasons. That is the most All-NBA selections all-time; next most is 15 by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Duncan.
ESPN Stats & Information contributed to this report.
