Predicting 2025 All-NBA 1st, 2nd and 3rd Teams
The end of the 2024-25 NBA season isn't technically here yet, but it's close enough for us to confidently predict how certain honors will be handed out.
Specifically, we're locking in all 15 picks for the All-NBA first, second and third teams.
Some tough cuts had to be made along the way, and that's even with the player pool thinned out by the league's 65-game requirement for consideration. The NBA's star power runs strong enough that there are several close calls despite hoops heavyweights like Luka Dončić, Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis and Victor Wembanyama being plucked out of the eligible-player pool.
Since this is a subjective honor without objective criteria, we'll lean on everything from traditional and advanced stats to team success and eye-test results to populate these rosters.
And, for clarity's sake, these are our predictions of how the rosters will look, not necessarily how we'd select them.
All-NBA Third Team
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Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
As long as Brunson's recent ankle ailment doesn't keep him from clearing the 65-game threshold, he'll have a spot on either the third or second team. He wound up as the last cut from the second team here, but he's been objectively awesome: 26.2 points on 60.6 percent true shooting and a career-high 7.4 assists against 2.5 turnovers.
Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons
Advanced metrics don't love Cunningham as much as the narratives do, but his featured role in the Pistons' rise to relevance is still selection-worthy. If his current per-game contributions hold, he'll become just the seventh player ever to average at least 25 points, nine assists and six rebounds.
Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers
A slow start nearly doomed Haliburton's chances, and they aren't entirely secure with Kevin Durant still technically able to reach 65 games. But with KD's hopes dimming—the Suns are on the brink of play-in elimination, so why bring him back?—let's instead spotlight Haliburton's brilliant play since the calendar flipped to 2025: 19.4 points on 51.1/43.3/85.5 shooting 9.7 assists and only 1.4 turnovers.
Jaren Jackson Jr., Memphis Grizzlies
Offensive consistency isn't quite there for Jackson, but he is potent enough on that end to make him third team-worthy when he's an all-league defender the other way. He's a 22.2-points-per-game scorer who shaves 6.2 percentage points off his matchup's normal shooting rates and drops their conversion rate a full 14 percentage points within six feet of the basket.
Alperen Şengün, Houston Rockets
If team success was stripped from the equation, Şengün might lose his spot to Domantas Sabonis, who's been generally more productive in a similar role. But Sabonis is delivering those numbers for a Kings team that might finish .500. Şengün, meanwhile, is the top rebounder and second-best scorer and distributor on a Rockets team that just wrapped up the West's No. 2 seed. That matters.
All-NBA Second Team
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Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
Golden State's Jimmy Butler-boosted midseason surge should push Curry up to the second team. His numbers aren't quite as loud as normal, but his impact on winning remains enormous. His plus-7.6 net differential ranks in the 88th percentile, while his plus-5.6 estimated plus/minus is sixth-best in the league.
Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
Edwards was an All-NBA second-teamer and top-10 MVP finisher last season, and most metrics regard him as being even better now. He makes full use of his explosive athleticism and fierce competitiveness. His 27.4 points are a new career high, while his 4.0 threes and 39.4 three-point percentage both shatter his previous personal bests.
LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
No, this isn't a legacy honor or even a nod to James' age-defiance. It's a simple reflection of the fact that the 40-year-old remains among the handful of the planet's best hoopers. He and Nikola Jokić are the only players averaging at least 24 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, and James' defense has been fully dialed-in during the season's second half.
Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers
Mobley is in the thick of the Defensive Player of the Year race while simultaneously having his best season to date as both a scorer (18.6 points per game) and long-range shooter (1.2 threes with a 37.3 percent splash rate). Oh, and his team might finish with an .800-plus winning percentage.
Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks
Remember early in Towns' career when folks wondered aloud whether he was a good-stats, bad-team type of player? Well, he's since blossomed into a really-good-stats, really-good-team contributor. He's averaging 24.4 points on 52.6/42.1/82.7 shooting, 12.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists on a Knicks squad that should soon clinch the East's No. 3 seed.
All-NBA First Team: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has quarterbacked his team to 65 wins (and counting) while closing in on his first scoring title (32.7 points) and converting two-pointers like a bruising big (57.1 percent).
If that's not enough to crown him MVP—and it well might be—it's certainly dominant enough to make him a no-brainer selection for this honor.
All-NBA First Team: Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers
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Donovan Mitchell might be the most vulnerable of our projected first-teamers, but that says a lot more about the players vying for this spot than it does the six-time All-Star.
The 28-year-old has managed to steer Cleveland toward one of its best seasons in franchise history without stunting the growth of the ascending young players around him. He is the Cavs' go-to player, but he manages to thrive in that role without stepping on the toes of Darius Garland or Evan Mobley.
Mitchell is the best player on the East's best team. For voters seeking a tiebreaker between him and a high-end second-teamer like LeBron James, Cleveland's success feels like the answer.
All-NBA First Team: Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
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This would mark a fourth consecutive first-team selection for Jayson Tatum, who has more or less maintained his same level of dominance.
His shooting rates aren't quite as high as normal (though no one is griping about a high-volume scorer having a 45.3/34.4/81.3 slash line), but he has offset that slight decline with a spike in playmaking (6.0 assists against 2.9 turnovers).
"We always like to say that he plays the game unconsciously competent," Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens told NBC Sports Boston's Chris Forsberg. "He doesn't need to think about it. He sees it, he makes the right, and he's just gotten better and better and better."
Tatum is an all-purpose superstar who's been legitimately great on both ends. Estimated plus/minus slots him in the 98th percentile offensively and the 90th percentile on defense.
All-NBA First Team: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
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The Bucks might be having a choppy season overall, but things would be disastrous without Giannis Antetokounmpo. If the two-time MVP isn't at the peak of his powers, he's within arm's reach of the apex.
His counting stats are, as per usual, patently absurd: 30.4 points (on 60.2 percent shooting!), 11.9 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 2.1 combined steals and blocks. His advanced metrics are equally impressive, as he ranks third in both player efficiency rating (30.3) and estimated plus/minus (plus-6.9) and fourth in win shares per 48 minutes (.237).
This would be the seventh All-NBA first-team selection in a row for the 30-year-old, and based on how he's playing, it doesn't look like he'll cede the spot any time soon.
All-NBA First Team: Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder are both having historically strong seasons, but there's a reason the MVP race hasn't been called yet.
That reason is Nikola Jokić, who has claimed the hoops world's most coveted piece of individual hardware in three of the previous four seasons.
And despite the remarkable resume, the 30-year-old might be better than ever. He is averaging a triple-double for the first time (30 points, 12.8 rebounds and 10.2 assists) while also enjoying his best season ever from three (2.0 makes at a 41.5 percent clip). His 32.2 PER is the second-highest of his career—and the second-highest in NBA history.
On the MVP front, he'll find himself fighting against voter fatigue and losing the team-success argument to Gilgeous-Alexander. As for this honor, though, he's just as obvious of a choice as his MVP competitor.
Statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference, Cleaning the Glass and Dunks & Three.
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