The NBA has officially announced its All-Defensive teams for the 2023/24 season (Twitter link).
A total of 99 media members voted on the All-Defensive awards, with players receiving two points for a First Team vote and one point for a Second Team vote. This year’s All-Defensive teams are as follows:
First Team
Rudy Gobert, Timberwolves (198 points)- Victor Wembanyama, Spurs (184)
- Bam Adebayo, Heat (168)
- Herbert Jones, Pelicans (159)
- Anthony Davis, Lakers (151)
Second Team
- Alex Caruso, Bulls (130)
- Jalen Suggs, Magic (99)
- Derrick White, Celtics (98)
- Jaden McDaniels, Timberwolves (66)
- Jrue Holiday, Celtics (36)
Gobert, who won this season’s Defensive Player of the Year award, was the only unanimous First Team selection, earning all 99 possible First Team votes.
No other players showed up on every ballot, though Wembanyama appeared on 98, receiving 86 First Team nods. Wembanyama is the first rookie in NBA history to claim a spot on an All-Defensive First Team, according to the NBA (Twitter link). Five rookies previously made a Second Team.
All-Defensive voting was positionless for the first time this season, which is why four big men – Gobert, Wembanyama, Adebayo, and Davis – were permitted to be named to the First Team. Jones, a forward, was the only non-center to earn First Team recognition, whereas the Second Team was made up entirely of guards and forwards.
The Timberwolves and Celtics – who ranked first and second, respectively, in regular season defensive rating – were the only teams to have more than one All-Defensive player in 2023/24. McDaniels was a Second Team selection, joining Gobert, while the Celtics’ backcourt duo of White and Holiday also made the Second Team. Both White ($250K) and Holiday ($139,200) earned bonuses as a result of making an All-Defensive team, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).
The rookie scale extension McDaniels signed last fall actually includes an All-Defensive bonus as well, Marks tweets, but since that contract doesn’t go into effect until this July, the Timberwolves’ perimeter stopper won’t cash in on that $431,035. That incentive is now considered “likely” instead of “unlikely” for next season though, as Marks notes, increasing McDaniels’ cap hit to $23,017,242.
Outside of the top 10, the players who received the most All-Defensive votes were Thunder wing Luguentz Dort (34 points, including six First Team votes), Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (29 points), Thunder center Chet Holmgren (21 points), Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen (20 points), and Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (19 points).
Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (six), Celtics swingman Jaylen Brown (three), and Kings teammates Domantas Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox (one apiece) were the other players who received First Team votes. In total, 34 players earned at least one First Team or Second Team vote.
Players were required to meet the 65-game criteria in order to qualify for All-Defensive honors this season. Knicks forward OG Anunoby, Warriors big man Draymond Green, and Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley – each of whom made an All-Defensive team last spring – were among the standout defenders who didn’t reach that games-played minimum in 2023/24.
Not a fan of the positionless all nba team awards
Absolutely the big men always will get easier counting stats blocks rebound etc and the guards will be overshadowed
Bam is first team because he guards 1-5 better than anyone in the association. Didn’t even average a whole block a game.
he has taken over Draymond’s mantle as the defensive swiss army knife
Yep. Four centres first team. Four guards and a wing second. Ridiculous, I agree. Since when does the nba favour big names.
I think it’s less about big names than position. I am firmly against positionless All-NBA, but I have more mixed feelings about positionless all-defense, because of the outsized defensive importance of big men.
While I’m not saying wing d is useless, rim protection is arguably more important, so I think it’s an interesting discussion regarding how to represent the most impactful defenders , but I certainly see both sides of the argument
This is a consolation prize for the big guys because the All NBA will mostly be guards and wings.
Derrick Jones Jr. and PJ Washington should have received at least a vote.
Jaden gotta be first team next year
Should’ve been first team this year. Not one thing defensively that herb jones is better than him at.
Lu Dort is a better defender than Suggs
Survey says : You’re wrong!
this might be the first sane comment you’ve ever made.
(he’s not a bot?)
No Lu Dort?? Wow. The robbery! And he was on the best team in the West!
Jalen Suggs?? How??
apparently wing defense, that stops the point of attack isn’t valued as much by NBA writers. it’s just too hard to see behind these counting stats accumulated by the 7’+ club.
Second straight season that Dort was absurdly left off entirely when he should’ve been first team especially considering the team success. Suggs is actually similar to Dort – I agree not quite as good – but thought he deserved second team. All defense is so much about reputation and exposure though. Guys like caruso, white, and holiday would get no votes if they played in OKC. And I know it’s sacrilege to say anything negative about Bam’s defense, his versatility is impressive and important in today’s game, but I don’t agree that he impacts winning on the defensive end in the top 10 in the league. He’s not crazy elite at anything defensively – unlike someone like Dort is with on-ball pressure. Similarly, McDaniels is the most disruptive on-ball defender in the game with his length and reaction quickness – he is a no-brainer 1st teamer.
Draymond Green is still one of the top defenders in the NBA……even if he didn’t make the 65 game cut..
he’ll need to remain that way for the next 2 years to keep the window open. he also could use some backup, someone capable of protecting the rim 20+ mins a game.
Nah maybe as a team defender but he cant really contain no one 1v1 anymore, was never his strength even tbh
Big men deserve the recognition this year, since they’re the only ones that made much of an impact on that end. With defenders being generally knee capped by the officiating, rim protection has never been more valuable. The playoffs have been a bit different, in terms of officiating, but this is a regular season award.
How in the world is Dame Lillard not on here?
And how IS Jrue Holiday? He got cooked by Jimmy in last year’s playoff series. I understood that to mean he was ineligible for any defensive acknowledgement for the rest of his career.
I only watched the Bucks a handful of times, but I think Dame is rightfully nowhere near this list. Also, citing last year’s playoffs isn’t exactly how ‘yearly’ awards work…it’s kinda in the name…
Dame lol. Gotta be trolling
Dame is considered a sieve on defense, so it’s quite obvious why he’s nowhere near this list or even mentioned when it comes to defense.
He plays defense?
Very happy that Jaden McDaniels gets recognizd!
Surprised no Dort since during the games the commentators like to bring up how the players voted him the toughest defender. The postionless I don’t care for, but all of these guys still would have made it. If they had like 6-7 bigs it would have been an issue, they likely would have if Embiid didn’t get hurt.
JALEN SUGGS??? LMBOOOOOOOOOOO
Ant man not on the list? The Wolves could have 4 all NBA defensive players. NAW is another.