The 2024-25 NBA regular season came to a close on Sunday. Most fans’ focus shifts to the playoffs, but others shift to who should win certain awards. More specifically, many people think about who should be on each All-NBA team.
Keep in mind that although this award is positionless now, I kept it positioned to an extent. My breakdown for all three teams is as follows:
Guard
Guard
Frontcourt
Frontcourt
Wild Card
I understand both sides of the argument of whether this award should be based on positions or not. With this being said, under my system, you are making being the best player at your position relevant while also not making it less fair for centers.
With all this said, here are my picks for who should make each All-NBA Team.
First Team
Guard: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
The guy who is likely to win MVP is one of the shoo-ins to make the All-NBA First Team. Gilgeous-Alexander checks literally all of the boxes. He finished as the scoring champion, was historically efficient, played great defense, and was on the best team. It is not a question of whether he will make it, but whether he will be unanimous or not (and even that is not much of a question).
Guard: Donovan Mitchell
Mitchell is someone who will probably get the least amount of votes on my ballot. Mitchell’s stats do not stand out, but his impact goes well beyond the numbers. At the end of the day, being the objective best player on one of the best teams in the league means something to me. While the Cavs are a talented team, they are also a young team who have a history of making a lot of mistakes. They did not make a lot of those this year, largely thanks to Kenny Attkinson and Mitchell.
Frontcourt: Nikola Jokic
Now, back to the other obvious guy. Jokic put together yet another historic offensive season. His team is only the No. 4 seed? Please. It might be the most impressive thing to happen this year that he got his team to where they are now. It is wild that in what is debatably his best season yet, he is probably not going to win MVP.
Nikola Jokić: Absolute cinema pic.twitter.com/wPilANV8L2
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) March 27, 2025
Frontcourt: Jayson Tatum
The MVP race is between Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic, and anyone else winning it would be criminal. With that being said, I think Tatum would be the third guy up. We have gotten the same thing from Tatum for four years now. He is going to play a bunch of games, lead his team to a top-three offense, play some great defense, and win. Though he is still disrespected by a ton in the media, at the very least, he is getting rewarded by making the All-NBA First Team every year.
Wild Card: Giannis Antetokounmpo
I, along with many other fans, found myself saying, “What happened to Antetokounmpo?” Well, he averaged 30 points, 12 rebounds, and 6.5 assists per game on 62.5 percent True Shooting. I know that he only played 67 games and that the Bucks are the No. 5 seed, but it feels like Antetokounmpo needs far more recognition for how dominant he was this season. Hopefully, he stays healthy, because this would be the first time he finishes the season healthy since 2022, and it would be great for the league.
Second Team
Guard: Stephen Curry
Based on the way people were talking about Curry in the middle of the season, you would think he was completely washed. However, since the trade for Jimmy Butler, Curry has looked like a top-five player. Since the All-Star break, he averaged 26.7 points per game on 66 percent True Shooting. The Warriors dug themselves in a pretty deep hole before the All-Star break, making them a No. 7 seed, but do not be surprised if they go far in the playoffs.
Guard: Anthony Edwards
People were expecting Edwards to be an MVP candidate this year. Though he did not reach those heights, Edwards’s fans should be more than satisfied with his progression. Even if his overall field goal percentage fell, the fact that his three-point volume and three-point field goal percentage increased drastically is super encouraging. After all, it is important that he grows his game at this point in his career. The Timberwolves have a tough matchup in the first round against the Lakers, and it will take Edwards playing at a very high level for them to win.
Frontcourt: LeBron James
Speaking of the Lakers, James is a lock for making First or Second Team All-NBA. The Lakers had a lot going on this season. Despite James missing some time a few weeks ago, he has been consistently a top-five to top-10 player all year long. I know it gets repetitive at points, but there are not enough words to describe how absurd it is that James continues to play this way. I fully expect this quality of play to carry over to the playoffs.
LEBRON FROM THE LOGO pic.twitter.com/WsCBdMRfwa
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) February 7, 2025
Frontcourt: Karl-Anthony Towns
Up next for Second Team All-NBA, we have the Knicks’ new center. Towns has been everything the Knicks could have asked for this year. A lot of people were saying that Towns “fell off” after the All-Star break, but I would not go that far. I’ll admit that he came back down to earth, but even then, he was still playing super solid basketball. If you do not believe that Towns should be here since he might not be the best player on his team, I understand that. However, at the end of the day, Towns has been awesome for the Knicks all year long, and I am excited to see him in the playoffs this year.
Wild Card: Tyrese Haliburton
To wrap up my Second Team All-NBA, I have a guy who was not even an All-Star this year. While some may consider that a deal-breaker, I do not for two reasons. First, I think Haliburton was robbed of an All-Star spot, and just because some people made a mistake back in February does not mean we have to make the same mistake in April. Second, Haliburton has played at an All-NBA First Team level since the All-Star break. Since then, he averaged 20.6 points and 11 assists per game on 68.1 percent True Shooting. Haliburton has been one of the best offensive engines in the league for two years now, and it has been great seeing him develop.
Third Team
Guard: Cade Cunnigham
How about the 2024-25 Detroit Pistons? I was higher on the Pistons than most, but even I underestimated them this season. Who are the two guys who deserve the most credit for that? J.B. Bickerstaff and Cade Cunningham. Bickerstaff took over this team and made it so much better, and he had help from Cunningham. Cunningham was one of two players in the league to average 26 points and nine assists per game. Jokic was the other.
Guard: Jalen Brunson
Up next, we have someone who will be playing opposite Cunningham in the first round. Despite barely making it to the 65-game threshold, I think that Brunson is a very easy nod for making Second or Third team All-NBA. People will say only one of Towns or Brunson should make it, but I disagree. Even if they did not win a crazy amount of games, both have been top-15 players this year. Brunson was an animal in the playoffs last year. Let’s see if it carries over.
Frontcourt: Evan Mobley
Up next, we have the potential Defensive Player of the Year. Mobley has been one of the most consistent players all season long. While I give more credit to Mitchell and Atkinson for the Cavs’ dominance this year, it is impossible to acknowledge how great they have been without talking about Mobley’s jump. The Cavs would not be where they are without him. I think Mobley will be the X-factor for the Cavs this year in the playoffs.
Chris you know damn well it’s @evanmobley award😂😂😂 https://t.co/BM1pwgTJlI
— Donovan Mitchell (@spidadmitchell) April 15, 2025
Frontcourt: Jaren Jackson Jr.
Next, we have another of the best defensive players in the game. There was a point in the season when it seemed like the Grizzlies were the second-best team in the West. Jackson was the primary reason for that. In addition to Jackson’s elite defense, he averaged 22.2 points per game while shooting 37.5 percent from three. The chances of the Grizzlies making any type of noise in the playoffs are near zero, but at the very least, the Grizzlies have watching Jackson improve through the years to look forward to.
Wild Card: Jalen Williams
People like to give Gilgeous-Alexander all of the credit for the Thunder’s success, but Williams has cemented himself as one of the best No. 2 options in the league. The Thunder struggled at the beginning of the year with non-Gilgeous-Alexander minutes, but they improved a lot, in large part due to Williams. There are not many players in the league who are under more pressure than Williams heading into the playoffs, and it will be fun to see what he’s got.
Main Image Credit:
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – APRIL 4: Nikola Jokic #15 of the Denver Nuggets dribbles the ball during the game against the Golden State Warriors on April 4, 2025 at Chase Center in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)
