Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes shared his reaction after being named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team.
Barnes just finished an incredible year with the Raptors, emerging as one of the league’s top two-way players.
In addition to averaging 18.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game, Barnes also averaged 1.5 blocks and 1.4 steals per game. His strong play helped the Raptors secure the No. 5 seed in the NBA Eastern Conference, and he showed the world how good he is with a terrific playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, pushing the higher-seeded Cavs to seven games.
For his strong play this year on the defensive end of the court, Barnes was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team, which is an incredible honor. But Barnes believed that he should have been on the First Team instead.
Scottie Barnes Shares Honest Reaction to NBA All-Defensive 2nd Team Accolade
Taking to social media, Barnes shared his honest reaction to being on the second All-Defensive team rather than the first.
“Mannnn what do I tell ya. (Expletive). Let’s keep working,” Barnes posted on X.
Barnes then shared his reaction to a post from StatMuse, which showed just how incredible he was on the defensive side of the court this season.
According to StatMuse, Barnes was ninth in steals, sixth in blocks, had the most stocks in the Eastern Conference, and became the first player in the 2020s to have 100 steals and 100 blocks in the same season. Yet, he was not named to the All-Defensive First Team.
— 114 steals (9th) — 116 blocks (6th) — First 100s/100b season of the 2020s — Most stocks in the East
Didn’t make 1st Team All-Defense.
NBA All-Defensive Teams Announced
Here are the NBA All-Defensive Teams for the 2025-26 season.
- First Team: Victor Wembanyama, Chet Holmgren, Ausar Thompson, Rudy Gobert, Derrick White
- Second Team: Bam Adebayo, Scottie Barnes, Cason Wallace, Dyson Daniels, OG Anunoby
It goes without saying that all 10 of the players named to both the first and second NBA All-Defensive Teams are amazing defensive players. But based on the statistics, Barnes should have been on the first team.
According to the NBA, Barnes received 130 total points for the honor, so he was the first man off the top squad, with White receiving 146 to claim the last spot on the first team.
The complete voting results ⬇️
As you can see from the voting breakdown, there are some very odd media votes for both the first and second teams, and they cost Barnes the chance to claim first-team accolades when he definitely deserved to be there. Like all NBA awards, these NBA All-Defensive teams are all opinion-based. Still, the NBA award voters need to take the voting process more seriously, or else you have players like Barnes who were deserving of first-team votes not getting them, with less deserving players receiving those votes instead, costing him his spot.
If anything, you would hope this snub lights a fire under Barnes, and next year, not only does he make the first team, but potentially, even capture his first NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award and show the voters who didn’t give him first-team votes this year that they were dead wrong.
Scottie Barnes Reacts to Being Named 2nd Team All-Defensive