Adam Silver: Positionless All-NBA Ballot Being Considered Ahead of 2022-23 Season

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said before Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday that the league is considering a change to the All-NBA team ballot after Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid was surprisingly left off the All-NBA First Team this year.

Silver told reporters that "a fair amount of consideration" is going into making the All-NBA team ballot positionless.

"We're a league that has moved increasingly to positionless basketball," Silver told reporters. "We'll have discussions with the players on changing the way we vote for All-NBA teams. These decisions do have a financial impact on players."

This year's All-NBA First Team was made up of Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, Dallas Mavericks point guard Luka Doncic, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker and Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum.

Embiid was named to the second team for the fourth time in his career despite receiving more first-team votes than Tatum. In total, he received 12 first-team votes at center and 45 at forward.

However, Tatum made the first team over Embiid because he had more votes than the big man as a forward.

Some voters attempted to get Embiid on the first team by voting him in as a forward instead of as a center because they knew Jokic would make the first team at center. If the All-NBA voting had been positionless this year, Embiid would've made the first team.

To be fair, Embiid should have been named to the first team after being named an MVP finalist. He had a career year, averaging 30.6 points, 11.7 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.5 blocks per game en route to a fourth place finish in the Eastern Conference.

Tatum even noted after being selected to the first team that the ballot should be positionless, adding that Embiid being snubbed from the first team was ridiculous after the year he had.

"I do think it should be positionless," Tatum said. "Joel Embiid was second in MVP voting and he made second team? It doesn’t really make too much sense."

Considering making an All-NBA team can result in a player qualifying for a supermax contract, the league definitely needs to sort out the voting because there are a number of players who could benefit financially.