Who will make All-NBA teams this year? How the awards race is shaping up with injuries to top stars

This year’s award races, particularly All-NBA honors, will be incredibly difficult to suss through. There are always a ton of great individual performances across the league, so in a literal sense you can’t highlight everyone. Once you factor in the 65-games played minimum, the field simultaneously shrinks while making decisions even more difficult in some cases.

In light of today’s exercise, taking a snapshot of what these teams could look like a little past the halfway point of the season, I’ll be selecting from the pool of players that are currently on pace to be eligible by the end of the year. Playing 65-of-82 means logging a qualifying appearance in roughly 79% of your team’s games.

Advertisement

To that end, here’s a list of notable names who are not on that pace right now, and thus won’t factor into my calculus — at least not yet. Chief among them:

Nikola Jokić (32 games out of 48, 66.7%)

Giannis Antetokounmpo (30/46, 65.2%)

Victor Wembanyama (33/47, 70.2%)

Stephen Curry (38/49, 77.6%)

Kawhi Leonard (33/46, 71.7%)

Lauri Markkanen (35/48, 72.9%)

Paolo Banchero (36/46, 78.3%)

(Bruno Rouby/Yahoo Sports Illustration)

And here are a few names that have already been eliminated from contention:

Joel Embiid (27/47, 57.4% – max of 62 games)

Austin Reaves (23/46, 50% – max of 59 games)

Jimmy Butler (39 games, out for season)

Franz Wagner (26/46, 56.5% – max of 62 games)

Let’s dig in, shall we?

All-NBA First Team

Jaylen Brown, Celtics

Stats: 29.4 points (53/36/78 shooting splits), 6.8 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.0 steals

Brown has been the focal point of one of the best stories — and teams! — in the NBA this season. His blend of drives, pull-up jumpers and improved playmaking have helped spearhead the league’s second-best offense in Boston. The fact that he has the on-ball chops to take on tough defensive assignments when asked and locked in — remember, he opened the season with the Joel Embiid matchup, and notably took the Kawhi Leonard assignment in the same game he dropped 50 points — is a welcomed bonus, and a glimpse into the kind of two-way impact he can tap into.

Advertisement

Cade Cunningham,…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/who-will-make-all-nba-teams-this-year-how-the-awards-race-is-shaping-up-with-injuries-to-top-stars-204456719.html

Author : Nekias Duncan

Publish date : 2026-01-30 20:44:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.