NBA Announces Selections for All-NBA Defensive Teams

On Monday night, the NBA announced the 10 players that were selected to the annual All-Defensive teams.

Headlining the All-Defensive 1st team were the two players in the running for Defensive Player of the Year—Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert and Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons. Simmons and Gobert were the only two players in the league to be unanimously voted to the 1st team. 

This was Gobert’s fifth straight year on the All-NBA Defensive first team, and Simmon’s second.

Rounding out the top-five were Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (his fourth time on the first team), Milwaukee Bucks guard Jrue Holiday (his second) and Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (his third consecutive first team nomination).

The All-NBA Defensive teams are selected from a group of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters from across the League — a first-team vote notches a player two “points,” while a second-team vote notches them one. Each voter chooses two guards, two forwards, and one center.

The second team boasts Kawhi Leonard (his seventh overall selection), teammates Joel Embiid and Matisse Thybulle, and Heat duo Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. As is the case every year, there were some surprising omissions from the ten players selected. Perhaps most notably, there were no Lakers on either team, even as the Lakers finished with the best defensive team in the league (106.8). Specific players to just miss selection were Mikal Bridges (Bridges finished with 39 total points, 4 less than Leonard), Clint Capela, and Myles Turner.