A delightful NBA season is coming to a fun-filled end as seeding battles rage and teams start eyeing postseason matchups.
But first, we have our final installment of the Basketball Poetry Awards, the All-NBA teams. I saved this one for last to see which borderline players would make the 65-game cutoff and to settle a few of the final spots, but I’ve run out of ways to delay. So, without further ado…
FIRST-TEAM ALL NBA
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
This is my unofficial MVP ballot. The top four players have been the best in basketball this season, statistically and otherwise. Tatum’s spot will be debated, as Jalen Brunson has a very strong case, but I’m sticking with the Celtic (although I wish I’d published this before Brunson single-handedly demolished Boston last night!).
SECOND-TEAM ALL NBA
Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns
Kevin Durant, Phoenix Suns
Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
Now we get to the interesting stuff.
Brunson is a no-brainer. He might make the First Team in real life. He’s the slipperiest, fancy-footiest point guard around right now, and I include everyone in the list above in that ranking.
Any good guard has the fabled “bag” of dribbling moves. Brunson, however, has added a fourth dimension by messing with time itself. Watch how he changes the tempo of his dribbling at will (he might have the nastiest in-and-out in the NBA) before freezing on a dime and throwing up the floater:
Franz Wagner’s defense is great, but it doesn’t stop Brunson — not much this season has. And if the midrange artistry doesn’t do it for you, Brunson is also nailing 40% of his threes on high (and difficult) volume. To put a cap on his ridiculous year, he just torched a Boston team that seems tailor-made to slow down undersized scoring guards like Brunson for 39 points in three quarters! The Villanova product has an injury-riddled New York Knicks team fighting for the East’s second seed, and he’s been one of the NBA’s most unstoppable forces this season.
James is the oldest player in the league, yet he’s averaging 26/8/7 with more than a steal per game on 54/41/75 percent shooting splits. Those per-game stats would boggle the mind if they were anyone other than James; instead, we’re talking about how he’s clearly slowed down. May we all age so gracefully.
I’ve seen Booker left off some high-profile ballots, which shocks me. He’s having the best passing season of his career (thanks to Chris Paul’s influence), scoring 27 points per game on strong efficiency numbers, and outpacing teammate Kevin Durant in many advanced metrics.
The Suns are +6.2 points per 100 when Booker is on the court and Durant is off; they’re +2.7 in the reverse case. Both players have been fantastic, but Booker has felt slightly more essential to Phoenix’s (mild) success this season.
I don’t mean to give Durant short shrift, however. He’s in the 80th percentile or better from every spot on the floor while providing his customarily solid passing and defense. There’s not much to say about Durant that hasn’t already been said. Phoenix’s season hasn’t gone according to plan, but it’s hard to blame the Suns’ star duo.
Anthony Edwards has the most visceral highlights in the league, dunks and blocks that leave your heart hurting for whichever player’s wife he just widowed. He’s made the bank shot cool again, dramatically improved on defense, and even carried the Wolves to within spitting distance of the one-seed despite Karl-Anthony Towns’ injury.
Edwards’ midrange footwork is sublime, and he’s become a much more effective off-ball mover. He’s more thoughtful about making himself an option when teammates drive instead of watching passively. Defensively, Edwards often saves his best for the end of games, but his peaks are unbelievable. Watch him swallow up seven-foot Jaren Jackson Jr. in the post and block his floater:
The crazy part is that it’s easy to project how Edwards can become even better. If he locks in on defense for longer and improves his decision-making, he might become a mainstay on future First Teams.
THIRD-TEAM ALL-NBA
Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers
Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors
Kawhi Leonard, Los Angeles Clippers
Paul George, Los Angeles Clippers
Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers
Davis has been one of the most complete two-way forces in the NBA this season. He’s also been one of the most durable superstars in the NBA, participating in 74 games with two more left on the schedule.
We have talked about Davis’ defense a bunch around here, but we haven’t appreciated his offensive game. Despite ludicrous suggestions that he should be shooting six triples per game (the call is coming from inside the house!), Davis has doubled down on what works for him: dominating as a pick-and-roll finisher and on the offensive glass. It’s resulted in the second-most-efficient shooting season of his career.
Davis’ rolling gravity provides its own form of spacing for James and D’Angelo Russell. He also leads the league in second-chance points per game despite being “only” eighth in offensive rebounding.
I ding Davis a tiny bit here because he can’t consistently initiate his own offense, but he’s one of the best play-finishers in the game. Add that to his defensive credentials (second in the league in blocks, first among humans), and you get an easy All-NBA choice.
If you haven’t looked recently, Curry’s stats are significantly down in some key areas. He isn’t attacking the boards with the same ferocity (he’s been an excellent positional rebounder in the past), his defense has slid, his finishing around the rim is downright mortal, and he’s averaging the fewest assists per game of his career.
But he’s also in the 95th percentile for points per shot attempt and is splashing 41% on more three-point attempts per game than Victor Wembanyama tries from two (read: an outrageous amount!). Curry is still feared beyond the arc like no one else, opening up cracks in the defense for his subpar, too-young-and-also-too-old supporting cast to score. He’s been one of the league’s most clutch players this season and has played in 72 games.
And, I mean:
Come on.
The Clippers duo is next, making the team with similar statistical splits. After a slow start, Leonard has been an efficient scorer from nearly everywhere on the court — it’s uncanny. He’s a proud member of the 70/50/40 club I just invented — 70% at the rim, 50% from midrange, and 40% from behind the painted line. The only other players doing that in the entire league are Kevin Durant and low-minutes backups Bol Bol and Jalen Smith.
While he’s not peak Kawhi defensively, he will garner some votes for an All-Defensive Team this season. He’s guarding the most difficult covers in the game, from LeBron James to Anthony Edwards to Stephen Curry. Reversing a recent trend, Kawhi is back to averaging more steals than fouls, a nearly impossible feat given his age and the quality of his foes. Kawhi has to be on here, and he has a strong case for Second Team.
George carried the team while Kawhi found his legs, and he’s re-calibrated his game to become one of the league’s premier marksmen. Nearly half of his field goal attempts are triples, and he’s canning 41% from range. The defense is still fearsome, particularly off-ball:
Many advanced stats have George as a top-10 player, even if other players have bigger raw numbers. He also has one of the league's largest on/off point differentials. There’s tremendous value in George’s malleability. We’ve even seen the Clippers try him at center in rare situations.
The final spot came down to Tyrese Haliburton and Zion Williamson. Leaving Big Z off hurt me. He’s the best player on an actually good New Orleans Pelicans team, and he really ramped up his effort level after the All-Star break.
But Williamson only played decent defense for a third of the season, and he’s legitimately weak on the boards despite a perfect box-out body and the hops to high-point a basketball. At one point, he might’ve been the league’s most unstoppable scoring machine; now, he’s merely very good. (Regardless, I’m a big Zion fan. I’m incredibly excited to see what happens with him in the playoffs, when he’ll be facing three or more bodies in the paint at all times.)
Haliburton is almost the opposite, combining a blistering start to the season with a literally hamstrung second half. But even with a lame hammy, Haliburton has led the league in assists while spurring on a Pacers team scoring 123.2 points per 100 possessions when he’s on the floor, a 95th percentile figure. Haliburton has less surrounding offensive talent than most, too. Indiana has punched above its weight in many games this season, and Haliburton’s skipping, joyful relentlessness is the sole reason why.
Honorable Mention: Zion Williamson, Jaylen Brown, Bam Adebayo, Domantas Sabonis, De’Aaron Fox, Rudy Gobert, Damian Lillard, Victor Wembanyama
Got to agree with you pretty much right down the line on these. You did bring up a point about Zion in your reasoning on why Halliburton gets the nod for 3rd team over him that bugs me so much -- how the HELL is someone playing Zion's position, with his physical gifts, such a PATHETIC rebounder?
Good choices, though I think Doncic is extremely close to Joker for MVP.