Following his third Most Valuable Player award in four years earlier this month, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic led this year’s All-NBA teams with his sixth consecutive All-NBA selection and fourth first-team selection overal.
Jokic, who was edged out of the first team last season by 2022-23 MVP Joel Embiid of Philadelphia, topped the voting this year. This marks the inaugural year of the award being positionless, partly due to the perennial battle between the two for the single first-team All-NBA center position.
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Ironically, this season saw Embiid among several players—such as Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Julius Randle of the New York Knicks, and Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat—who made All-NBA last season but were ineligible this year due to the newly established 65-game rule for top awards.
Despite the rule alteration, Jokic was joined on the first team by the other four players who were also first-team All-NBA selections last year: Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks, and Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics.
Antetokounmpo secured his sixth consecutive first-team selection, Doncic his fifth straight, Tatum his third consecutive, and Gilgeous-Alexander his second in a row. Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander were the only unanimous choices for the first team.
Notably, Doncic became just the third player to achieve five first-team All-NBA selections before turning 26, joining the ranks of Tim Duncan and Kevin Durant.
For Doncic and Gilgeous-Alexander, the All-NBA nods mean they are poised for supermax extensions that can be signed in 2025, both of which would set records.
Doncic can sign a five-year deal worth about $346 million, starting at nearly $60 million in 2026-27 and ending at about $79 million in 2030-31. Gilgeous-Alexander will be eligible to sign a four-year extension worth about $294 million. His would start in 2027-28 at around $65 million — and the final year, 2030-31, would see him earning just over $81 million, or nearly $1 million per game. It would be the first time an NBA player’s annual salary has topped $80 million.
Also experiencing significant financial gains due to their All-NBA selections were Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves (second team) and Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers (third team). Both players had agreed to extensions last summer valued at around $205 million, which will now increase to approximately $245 million over the next five seasons.
Haliburton’s achievement marks the first time a Pacers player has made an All-NBA team since Victor Oladipo in the 2017-18 season.
Additionally, Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks received his first-time selection, landing on the second team after leading the Knicks to the second round of the playoffs. He becomes the first Knicks guard to earn an All-NBA selection since Walt “Clyde” Frazier after the 1974-75 season.
