NBA award season is almost over, with all of the individual awards already given out and all but a few teams yet to be announced. To the surprise of absolutely no one, two-time reigning Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard headlined this year’s All-Defense teams, which the NBA unveiled on Wednesday afternoon. Leonard was the only player to be voted first team All-Defense on all 130 ballots. Here are the teams:
First Team:
- Guard: Chris Paul (Los Angeles Clippers)
- Guard: Avery Bradley (Boston Celtics)
- Forward: Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio Spurs)
- Forward: Draymond Green (Golden State Warriors)
- Center: DeAndre Jordan (Los Angeles Clippers)
Second Team:
- Guard: Tony Allen (Memphis Grizzlies)
- Guard: Jimmy Butler (Chicago Bulls)
- Forward: Paul Millsap (Atlanta Hawks)
- Forward: Paul George (Indiana Pacers)
- Center: Hassan Whiteside (Miami Heat)
These awards are always subjective, especially with something like defense that’s difficult to truly quantify. But the voters largely got this right. There are a few areas to quibble (Jimmy Butler’s selection feels like a reputation vote, given that he missed 15 games and played for a lottery team), but there’s nothing egregious here.
The All-NBA teams, which should be announced sometime in the coming days, will be far more interesting.
