Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James was named to the All-NBA Second Team for the 2020-21 season. This is the third time in James’ career earning All-NBA Second Team honors and 17th straight time overall making an All-NBA Team, which is a league record.
The 2020-21 All-NBA First Team is comprised of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, Stephen Curry, Luka Doncic and Kawhi Leonard.
James joins Damian Lillard, Joel Embiid, Chris Paul, and Julius Randle on the Second Team and Rudy Gobert, Jimmy Butler, Paul George, Bradley Beal and Kyrie Irving made up the Third Team.
Here is how the voting panned out for the 15 players that made it, via our Ryan Ward:
Here’s how the voting panned out for the All-NBA teams : pic.twitter.com/imTO2lIyC9
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) June 16, 2021
Here is who just missed the cut based on the voting, via Jovan Buha of The Athletic:
Anthony Davis received one All-NBA second team vote and two All-NBA third team votes — all at center, not forward. pic.twitter.com/knokeXKSoM
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) June 16, 2021
Anthony Davis was noticeably absent, though that can be attributed to injuries as he missed 36 regular-season games.
James averaged 25.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.8 assists and shot a solid 36.6 percent from distance this season. Had he not missed 27 games during the regular season, he almost assuredly would have made All-NBA First Team but still making Second Team is an accomplishment in itself.
While the honor is a bit of a consolation prize for James, the end goal will always be to win a championship. Jared Dudley highlighted James’ consistency as a player and that should serve him well when next season comes around.
Davis believes James was not 100 percent healthy in playoffs
James’ first time being eliminated in the first round of the postseason should come with an asterisk as he — like several of his teammates — were not playing at anywhere close to 100%. James was still working himself back from his ankle injury and Davis believes that his co-star was nowhere near himself.
“He wasn’t 100% healthy and I think you guys know that,” Davis said. “He left it all on the floor, especially tonight trying to make plays after plays to try to help us get to a Game 7. I think he also is gonna need that time to let the ankle fully heal.
“But it was more, and especially when he first came back, a lot of jump shots. I don’t think he trusted the ankle a lot because with everything you do, he’s moving the ankle so he plays downhill and jumps and attacks and come off pick-and-rolls, do a lot of movement so his ankle has to be good. But like I said, he was still very effective for us when he came back. It just wasn’t enough for our team, me, him and everyone else.”
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