2021 NBA awards: Final picks for All-NBA, All-Defensive and All-Rookie teams
All-NBA Third Team
- Bradley Beal, Washington Wizards
- Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns
- Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
- Julius Randle, New York Knicks
- Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz
You could make a case for Kyrie Irving or Trae Young over Bradley Beal or Devin Booker for Third Team honors. Irving and Young’s teams won more than Beal’s eighth-place Wizards, and their basic stat lines were slightly more impressive than Book’s.
But Irving missed 18 games, which has to be factored in when Beal averaged a gaudy 31.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. Beal missed 12 games as well, but Washington was lost without him, going 2-10 in those games. The Nets fared only slightly worse with Irving off the court and were 12-6 without him, mostly because Brooklyn had a superior roster. Irving shouldn’t be punished for playing on a better team, but the increased burden of responsibility, higher number of games played and insane scoring average tips the scales in Beal’s favor.
As for Young, while his Hawks finished seven games ahead of the Wizards in the standings and he bore a heavy amount of responsibility as well, his numbers just aren’t quite as good as Beal’s, his efficiency (.438/.343/.886) was down, and we can’t just ignore that he’s still one of the worst defenders in the association. That gives Beal an edge, and Devin Booker was more efficient, played for a better team and drastically improved as a defender. Booker’s a better defender than Irving and has been more available too.
One might turn to Donovan Mitchell next and wonder how he gets snubbed for Booker despite playing on a better team and averaging more points, assists and rebounds with a higher 3-point percentage. The reasoning there is Booker is the better defender, and though the raw assist and scoring numbers don’t show it, his skill-set demands slightly more attention on the defensive end because of his superior passing and scoring ability from all three levels. Book’s 3-point percentage is curiously low once again given his reputation, but he’s more efficient than Mitchell from … literally everywhere else.
That, plus Mitchell missing 19 games to Booker’s five, gives the Suns guard the edge. Make no mistake: Book averaging 25.6 points, 4.3 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game on 58.7 percent true shooting for the NBA’s second-best team is certainly All-NBA worthy. After years of dismissing Booker’s eye-popping numbers because they came on losing teams, it’d be downright hypocritical to suddenly move the goalposts just because his numbers are slightly down on a vastly superior team.
As for Westbrook, his triple-double prowess has been insane, and it legitimately turned the Wizards’ season around. It also came too late in the season, and Washington was nowhere near good enough to warrant two All-NBA spots. If it’s going to be anyone, it’s Beal. Similarly, despite Zach LaVine putting up a bonkers, supremely efficient stat line, the Chicago Bulls didn’t even make the play-in games. That has to matter in this kind of All-NBA debate, even if it’s silly to assume that says anything about LaVine other than the lack of talent around him (i.e. Devin Booker Syndrome).
The toughest omission among frontcourt players was Bam Adebayo, who gets edged out by Jayson Tatum, Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert. Randle and Gobert are untouchable; the former put up a 24-10-6 stat line on drastically improved 3-point shooting as the best player for the 4-seeded New York Knicks and the frontrunner for Most Improved Player, while the latter is the Defensive Player of the Year favorite and the most impactful player for the top-seeded Utah Jazz.
You could make a case for Bam over Tatum. The Miami Heat finished with a better record than the Boston Celtics, Adebayo grew more as a player this year, and if not for Gobert’s existence, he’d be a legitimate threat to win Defensive Player of the Year. But Tatum’s credentials shouldn’t be ignored, as he put up 26.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists on tidy .459/.386/.868 shooting splits. He’s far more advanced on the offensive end, and he’s certainly no slouch defensively either. The Heat weren’t good enough to earn two All-NBA slots, and one is already going to Bam’s superstar teammate, so Tatum is in as Boston’s only All-NBA selection, just ahead of Jaylen Brown.
Zion Williamson has All-NBA talent and numbers, but his New Orleans Pelicans didn’t even make the play-in. Ben Simmons and Khris Middleton play essential two-way roles on legitimate title contenders, but statistically, their numbers just aren’t quite good enough to make the final 15-man cut.