When the All-NBA Teams were announced on Sunday, Victor Wembanyama was shockingly not a unanimous vote for the first team.
While Wembanyama received 99 first-team All-NBA votes, he shockingly received one second-team All-NBA vote. The 99 first-team votes were still good enough for him to earn first-team nods, but he wasn’t unanimously selected like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic were.
The complete voting results ⬇️
Victor Wembanyama Snubbed of Unanimous 1st-Team All-NBA Vote
There is no doubt that Wembanyama was snubbed of the chance to be a unanimous first-team All-NBA player this year. The 22-year-old Frenchman just had an incredible year for the Spurs, earning a unanimous vote for the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award, the first time that’s happened in league history. He also came in third place for the NBA MVP award, behind Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic. But for some reason, one of the voters chose not to give him a first-team All-NBA vote, which makes no sense.
Here were the five players selected to the All-NBA First Team, along with their vote totals:
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 100 first-team votes (500 points)
- Nikola Jokic: 100 first-team votes (500 points)
- Victor Wembanyama: 99 first-team votes, one second-team vote (498 points)
- Luka Doncic:91 first-team votes, nine second-team votes (482 points)
- Cade Cunningham: 60 first-team votes, 38 second-team votes (414 points)
Wembanyama not being a unanimous first-team vote is bad, but what was arguably even worse was two voters not giving Cunningham any votes for any of the three All-NBA teams.
While the voters likely got these top five players right overall — they were the five most outstanding players in the league this year who met the minimum 65-game requirement or received an exception — the way they got there is controversial due to the non-unanimous nature of Wembanyama’s first-team vote and the two voters leaving off Cunningham from their lists entirely.
Potential All-NBA Snubs
As far as potential snubs go, Jaylen Brown was the first player off the first team at 384 points total. He received 44 first-team votes, 54 second-team votes, and two third-team votes, just narrowly missing the first team. He likely would have made it, but Cunningham and Doncic being eligible for the All-NBA teams made it harder for Brown to get on the first team.
The 15 players selected for the three teams all had great seasons, but looking at the players who just missed the cut, you have to take a look at Scottie Barnes of the Toronto Raptors, who was one of the league’s top two-way players this season. He was the third man off the list, though with just nine total points, he wasn’t close to making it. Many New York Knicks fans also believe that Karl-Anthony Towns should have been on the third team, but he also missed the cut with 14 points.
Overall, the voters did a solid job with the 15 players they selected to the team. There are a lot of great players in the league, and it’s not an easy decision to narrow the All-NBA list down to just 15 players. But when you see things like Wembanyama not getting 100 first-team votes or Cunningham being left off two voters’ lists entirely, it makes you scratch your head and wonder what’s going on.
One Voter Gave Victor Wembanyama a 2nd-Team All-NBA Vote