2026 All-NBA Teams

 The NBA and NBAPA has shifted one of the key new rules created to help curb load management. When the 65-game rule was created in 2023, it was mostly met with open arms. At the time, the NBA was fed up with the best players on the top teams taking too many games off and not giving the fans enough time on the court. It was time for a change. Just not this change.

Since the implantation of this rule the outcry for how flawed this system is has been this season is just as vast as the support for rule change back in 2023. And for the first time since the rule has been created, the NBA and NBAPA have decided to use a clause that wasn’t reported until Luka Doncic and Cade Cunningham decided to appeal this season. Doncic appealed because he missed time in December for the birth of his daughter, which is completely understandable and shouldn’t have been healed against him. Cunningham won his appeal for his unusual and rare injury, a collapsed lung, which held him out of 12 games. Anthony Edwards, who finished with 61 games played, also appealed for an infection in his toe that caused the Minnesota guard to miss four games in early December but was denied. In the cases of Edwards and Cunningham it creates a slippery slope for the NBA & NBAPA to manage every season.

Having to hear appeals at the end of the year makes the voting process for awards more of a headache to sort through. And the fact that the NBA has to step in and work around this rule, clause or not, is a bad look for the league. Having stipulations for family matters for players is one thing. Playing doctor and injury police is another.

So, instead of having to play a certain number of games, there should be a minutes threshold players have to hit; that takes the average total minutes played by every player the season before and create a baseline for that season. With the same family matters clause in place. That’s it.

 With that in mind let’s take a look at the MVP award, Rookie of the Year, and the All-NBA Teams with the group of players eligible now official.

1st Team All-NBA:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Cade Cunningham

Luka Doncic

Jaylen Brown

Nikola Jokic

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is also my vote for MVP. The reigning MVP would become the 14th player to win back-to-back MVPs. Kareem Abdul-Jabaar and LeBron James are the only players to win back-to-back MVPs twice. My reason to vote for the Oklahoma City center piece is because simply he’s having basically the same season he had last year, he’s the best player on the team with the best record in the league. Gilgeous-Alexander finished second in the scoring title race with 31 points per game, grabbed 4.3 rebounds per game, and was 14th in assists per game with 6.6, while also finishing 2nd in PER (30.8), 6th in Defensive Win Shares (4.1), and 1st in plus-minus (+876).

With the help of the NBA & NBAPA thankfully we can put both Luka Doncic and Cade Cunningham on 1st Team All-NBA where they belong. You cannot write the story of the 2025-26 season with Cade and Luka. Cunningham probably would get more MVP buzz if his bizarre injury didn’t rob him of a dozen games due to his true break out season and best player on the best team in the Eastern Conference. Luka Doncic on the other hand will probably finish in the top three of MVP voting due to his final three months where he was the leading force behind the Lakers becoming a top three seed in the Western Conference until Doncic’s hamstring injury on April 2nd.

Jaylen Brown had his turn in the MVP decision when it seemed like he was going to be the only All-Star qualified heading into the All-Star Break with SGA out indefinitely, Wembanyama and Jokic looking like they wouldn’t make the 65-game mark, and Cade Cunningham’s season still being discounted for how weak the Eastern Conference turned out to be. But Brown’s season should still be considered a 1st team season because nobody outside the Celtics locker room thought this was possible. Boston was pinned to have a gap year just like the Indiana Pacers with Jayson Tatum sidelined seemingly for the year with an Achillies tear. Indiana had one of the worst seasons in franchise history. Boston didn’t. Brown had his best season in almost every statistical category while the Celtics finished only six wins worse than last season with Jayson Tatum returning with 19 games left in the regular season.

This season for Nikola Jokic might be the oddest of his career. Jokic is the first player ever to led league in both assists and rebounds in the same season. With that, Jokic’s points per game was percentage points higher than each of his three MVP seasons. It will be crazy to look back, see that, and realize that Jokic didn’t win the MVP award. For my vote, Jokic should finish second behind SGA.  

2nd Team All-NBA:

Jalen Brunson

Donovan Mitchell

Kawhi Leonard

Jalen Johnson

Victor Wembanyama  

Now let’s talk about my pick for Defensive Player of the Year—Victor Wembanyama. The 22-year-old Frenchman had his best season in points, assists, and rebounds per game while leading the league in total blocked shots and blocks per game for the third consecutive season. The key determining factor as to why Wembanyama won’t finish in the top three for MVP or win the award is the minutes restriction placed upon the center by the San Antonio Spurs due to a trio of lower body injuries. Wemby is in the conversation for best player in the sport and probably will hold the title belt by the end of next season barring something drastic.   

Straight up, Victor Wembanyama deserves to be on the 1st Team. The only reason he isn’t because I’m trying my hardest to stay true to the true positional basketball structure that has been used to craft All-NBA & ABA teams since the awards began in 1946. And since the “positionless” basketball awards became a thing under the new CBA in 2023, there has been two instances in which multiple guards or forwards made the same team. The first time was the 2023-24 third team that had Tyrese Haliburton, Steph Curry, Devin Booker, Domantas Sabonis, and LeBron James. The other was last season with the second team with Jalen Brunson, Anthony Edwards, Steph Curry, LeBron James, and Evan Mobley. Sorry to the Wemby I aim to stay true to history. Yes, I know I have four guards and a center on my first team above.

As for the rest of the second team, Jalen Brunson had an under rated season staying steady in points, assists, and rebounds per game. He continues to be one of the best point guards in the league. Like Brunson, Donovan Mitchell just showed up and played like he’s been capable of and should be rewarded for his consistency. Jalen Johnson had the biggest pop around the league and averaged a double-double for a Hawks team that has been one of the best surprises of this season. With Kawhi Leonard, he’s done a tremendous job tuning out the loudest story of the NBA season with the Aspiration Scandal and should be recognized for his play on the court.  

3rd Team All-NBA:

Jamal Murray

Tyrese Maxey

Deni Avdija

Karl-Anthony Towns

Jalen Duran

Jamal Murray for the first time since the Denver Nuggets won the title in 2023 had a complete season and is one of the reasons the Denver Nuggets are the third seed in the Western Conference. Tyrese Maxey is the best player on a lost team and the unwillingness of the front office to move on from one era to the next shouldn’t be held against the Philadelphia guard. Maxey had his best statistical season and averaged the most minutes in the NBA. Deni Avdija is the best kept secret in the league for how good of a player he is. Avdija like Kawhi Leonard drown out the noise of the Chauncey Billups Poker Scandal, have an All-Star season, and the best season of his career. The importance of Jalen Duran to the success of the Detroit Pistons can at times be overshadowed by Cade Cunningham but shouldn’t. Duran is one of the best defensive bigs in the NBA right now and his offensive game has taken a leap from a season ago. Duran should get some recognition for Detroit being the best team in the Eastern Conference and helping the Pistons shock the NBA. With Karl-Anthony Towns, he needs to be recognized for recording the most double-doubles in the NBA this season with 56. Towns played in 75 games this season. That is incredible production for a guy who is the most criticized player in the biggest market in the league.

Honor Mentions:

Kevin Durant, LeMelo Ball, Cooper Flagg, James Harden, and Scottie Barnes. Durant needs to be mentioned for yet another incredible year of production in a year which saw Durant play in the most amount of games he’s played in since the 2018-19 campaign. LeMelo Ball was the best player on the biggest surprise in the NBA—the Charlotte Hornets. Cooper Flagg after a tremendous run since New Years secures my Rookie of the Year vote. James Harden, while a headache off the court is still incredibly productive on it. Scottie Barnes should be on an All-Defensive team and is the best player on a good Toronto Raptors team.

 This season for the NBA has been one of the most scrutinized in recent memory from the aforementioned scandals involving Kawhi Leonard and Chauncey Billups, to the worst showing of tanking in league history, and even another Kevin Durant social media kerfuffle, just to name a few. The NBA needs a good playoff and a bunch of the names on these All-NBA teams will make moments this spring.