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The center for the Denver Nuggets, Nikola Jokic, earned his sixth selection in a row and fourth overall on Wednesday, capping this year’s All-NBA teams after winning his third Most Valuable Player title in four years earlier this month.
Jokic dominated the voting; the first year of the award was positionless, partly due to the yearly brawl between the two for the lone first-team All-NBA center slot. Jokic was replaced on the first team by Philadelphia’s 2022–23 MVP Joel Embiid.
Wemby creates history by choosing an All-Defensive lineup.
Despite the rule change, Jokic is joined on the first team by four players, in addition to Embiid, who were named first-team All-NBA last season: Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks, Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks, Hai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Boston Celtics, and Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics.
It was Tatum’s third consecutive selection, Doncic’s fifth consecutive pick, Antetokounmpo’s sixth consecutive selection, and Gilgeous-Alexander’s second consecutive selection. Only Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander were selected to the first team unanimously.
Doncic joins Tim Duncan and Kevin Durant as the only players with five first-team All-NBA honors prior to reaching 26.
The All-NBA nods for Doncic and Gilgeous-Alexander indicate that they are eligible to sign supermax deals in 2025, which would both be records.
Doncic is eligible to sign a $346 million five-year contract, which will pay roughly $60 million in 2026–2027 and roughly $79 million in 2030–2031 in total. Gilgeous-Alexander will be qualified to sign a $294 million, four-year contract extension. His starting salary would be approximately $65 million in 2027–2028; by the last year, 2030–2031; he would have made slightly more than $81 million, or almost $1 million each game. For the first time ever, an NBA player would make more than $80 million a year.
Results of the First Team All-NBA Voting*
The guards Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves (second team) and Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers (third team), who both accepted contract extensions last summer valued at approximately $205 million but will now be worth approximately $245 million over the next five seasons, are the other players who stand to gain significantly financially from their selections.
After the 2017–18 season, Haliburton became the first player from the Pacers to be selected to the All–NBA team since Victor Oladipo.
Meanwhile, Knicks guard Joel Brunson, who led New York into the second round of the playoffs, is another first-round selection that makes the second squad. He is the first guard for the Knicks to be selected to the All-NBA team since Walt “Clyde” Fraizer following the 1974–1975 campaign.
The Phoenix’s Kevin Durant, who received his 11th selection and tied for the 12th most in NBA history, the Los Angeles Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard, who was selected for the sixth time and first since 2021, and the Los Angeles Lakers’ Anthony Davis, who received his fifth selection and first since 2020, are the other players on the second team alongside Brunson and Edwards.
