Sixers’ Joel Embiid earns first All-NBA first-team honor

The All-NBA teams were announced on Wednesday night, with MVP Joel Embiid making his first appearance on the first team.

LeBron James extended his record by being named to the All-NBA team for the 19th consecutive season. Joining Embiid on the first team were Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics, Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks, Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Stephen Curry led the second team and was joined by Donovan Mitchell, Nikola Jokic, Jimmy Butler, and Jaylen Brown. The third team was made up of LeBron James, Damian Lillard, Julius Randle, Domantas Sabonis, and De’Aaron Fox.

Embiid, who won his first MVP award, led the NBA in scoring for the second year in a row. He was previously a second-team All-NBA selection and finished second in the MVP race to Jokic in the past two seasons.

Antetokounmpo was the only unanimous first-team selection and made his fifth straight appearance on the first team. Tatum was named to the first team for the second consecutive season, while Doncic received his second first-team selection.

Gilgeous-Alexander became the first player from the Thunder to be named to an All-NBA team since Kevin Durant in 2016. He helped his team reach the 8-9 play-in tournament despite being one of the NBA’s youngest squads.

Brown was the big winner from a contractual standpoint as he qualified for a five-year, $295 million supermax extension by making All-NBA. Tatum also locked up a supermax extension for next summer as he has made the All-NBA team in each of the past two seasons.

On the other hand, Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant did not make any of the three All-NBA teams and missed out on a $39 million contract increase.

Other players who would have been supermax eligible but didn’t qualify by missing out on All-NBA honours are Toronto Raptors teammates Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet, as well as Nuggets guard Jamal Murray.

New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson and Cavaliers guard Darius Garland also missed out on having the higher extension money if they had made All-NBA.