The last of the NBA’s player-specific honors were announced on Sunday with 15 players named to one of the three All-NBA teams.
At the top, the names aren’t necessarily a big surprise. Newly named two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his fellow MVP candidates of Nikola Jokić and Victor Wembanyama were shoo-ins to make first-team All-NBA. Players like Cade Cunningham, Jaylen Brown, Jalen Brunson and Tyrese Maxey likely knew they’d land on an All-NBA team, it was just a matter of which one.
Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokić, Wembanyama, Cunningham and Luka Dončić were named first-team All-NBA, while Brown, Brunson, Donovan Mitchell, Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant earned second-team honors. Next is where things get interesting with only 15 spots up for grabs. Like any other award, that brings a list of snubs who end up on the outside looking in.
Maxey, Jamal Murray, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Johnson and Jalen Duren rounded out the All-NBA list on the third team, which leaves some high-profile names off after career seasons. Of course, for any “snub” to make the list, one player who made All-NBA would have to miss out. But, some of the biggest absences have a strong case that they should have made the cut. Here are the players who just fell short and now make up this year’s list of the biggest All-NBA snubs:
Scottie Barnes, Toronto Raptors
Regular season stats: 18.1 PPG, 5.9 APG, 7.5 RPG, 50.7 FG%, 30.4 3P%, 81.5 FT%
Scottie Barnes led the Raptors to the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference this season | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images
Barnes is used to awards snubs at this point. First, he missed out on first-team All-Defense and now, he was left off the three All-NBA teams entirely. The Raptors’ star was hurt by the NBA ruling in favor of Cade Cunningham and Luka Dončić’s awards eligibility despite playing in just under the 65-game minimum. Still, Portland’s Deni Avdija and New York’s Karl-Anthony Towns (more on them momentarily) finished ahead of Barnes in All-NBA voting, so he may not have made the cut anyway.
He’s an elite defender who finished with the ninth most steals (114) and the sixth most blocks (116) in the NBA. Each player who swatted more shots than him stands at least 7 feet while Barnes is 6’8″. All-NBA honors certainly aren’t defense-focused, but in Barnes’s case, he ran the offense for the fifth-place team in the Eastern Conference. He takes the top defensive assignment each night and is the straw that stirs the drink for Toronto’s offense, an impressive feat on a team that finished with its best result in four years.
Deni Avdija, Portland Trail Blazers
Regular season stats: 24.2 PPG, 6.7 APG, 6.9 RPG, 46.2 FG%, 31.8 3P%, 80.2 FT%
Deni Avdija had a career season as Portland’s star | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images
Avdija’s case for All-NBA is simple: He scored a career-high 24.2 points per game and served as the primary scorer for a surprising Trail Blazers team that earned the seventh seed in the Western Conference. Portland’s 42–40 record tied for eighth in the regular season and the franchise made the playoffs for the first time in five seasons with Avdija leading the way.
He averaged 16.9 points per game in his first season with Portland last year, making for a massive jump in year two. He took 9.1 free throws each game, which was the most across the entire league aside from Dončić—yes, he even averaged more foul shots than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. That earned Avdija a reputation for “foul baiting” but you can’t deny that he’s elite at absorbing contact and getting to the line to give his team easy points. He took a step back as a three-point shooter with the additional volume, but that gives him even more room for growth with the potential to turn into one of the NBA’s top scorers.
Even better than Avdija’s giant leap this year is the contract he’s currently under. He signed a four-year, $55 million rookie extension with the Wizards before he was dealt to Portland the following summer. Per Spotrac, he made just $14.4 million this season and his salary descends over the course of the deal. Next year, he’ll make $13.1 million and then $11.9 million in 2027–28. Should the production continue, he’s in for a massive raise for his next deal, but he’s currently on the best value deal across the NBA.
Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks
Regular season stats: 20.1 PPG, 3.0 APG, 11.9 RPG, 50.1 FG%, 36.8 3P%, 85.8 FT%
Karl-Anthony Towns and the Knicks are in the midst of a historic playoff run | Scott Galvin-Imagn Images
Although the Knicks’ current playoff run isn’t considered for awards honors, Towns had a great regular season as he adjusted to a new role in New York’s offense. He slightly regressed as a scorer, but he did so on fewer shot attempts and averaged 20.1 points per game efficiently. He passed the ball more frequently when driving to the rim and created more opportunities for the Knicks offense which had the second-best offensive rating across the NBA (122.9). Only the Thunder were better with a 123.5 offensive rating while no team other than Oklahoma City and New York had an offensive rating better than 115.9 (San Antonio).
Besides the successful adjustment offensively, he remained one of the NBA’s best rebounders. His 11.9 boards per game where better than any player not named Nikola Jokić. Towns’s 3.1 offensive rebounds a night were a top-10 mark for a team who averaged the most second chance points in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks’ playoff success brings validity to his case as one of the biggest All-NBA snubs although that’s not accounted for in All-NBA. But how crucial Towns’s new role is to a team one win away from the NBA Finals speaks volumes.
More NBA From Sports Illustrated
Listen to SI’s NBA podcast, Open Floor, below or on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on SI’s YouTube channel.
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow
