Luka Doncic named to All-NBA First Team

The NBA announced the players voted to their All-NBA teams Wednesday night. Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic made an appearance for the fourth straight season, named to All-NBA First Team. Wrapping up his fifth season in the league, Doncic received first team honors the three previous seasons as well and was a member of the All-Rookie First team in 2019.

Though the Mavericks’ season as a whole was disappointing and in some ways catastrophic Doncic still produced at an impressive level, averaging 32.4 points, 8.6 rebounds and eight assists at his highest usage for his career. With the Mavericks missing the playoffs for the first time since 2019 it also means Doncic is getting his first fully restful offseason with no NBA or Slovenian team duties over the summer. This isn’t where Doncic or the team would like to be in May, but there are silver linings to be found.

Doncic entered the season as the MVP favorite but finished well outside the top five of voting, revealed last week as Philadelphia 76ers Joel Embiid was given the honor. Other players named alongside Doncic on first team are:

As MMB’s own Josh Bowe reflected on in March, what Doncic has accomplished in his career is fairly jaw-dropping:

So I thought about what is probably his most impressive feat: Making first team All-NBA in his second, third, and fourth season. Not too many players have made first team three times before the age of 24. In fact, it was just three people, before Doncic: Kevin Durant, Tim Duncan, and Max Zaslofsky.

In Doncic now receiving this honor for the fourth time he ranks behind just Larry Bird and Tim Duncan for number of first team honors in their first five seasons. A staggering feat, and impressive company.