Former UK star Anthony Davis back on All-NBA First Team for fourth time
Former University of Kentucky star Anthony Davis was named to the All-NBA First Team on Wednesday.
It was the fourth first-team selection of Davis’ career after previously earning the honor in 2015, 2017 and 2018. He was joined on the 2020 first team by Los Angeles Lakers teammate LeBron James, the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Houston Rockets’ James Harden and the Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic.
Antetokounmpo and James were unanimous choices on 100 ballots. Harden was third in the voting, including 89 first-team votes, Davis was fourth with 79 and Doncic was fifth with 59. James earned All-NBA honors for a record 16th time (13 of those on the first team), breaking the mark he shared with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan.
The second team included Nikola Jokic (Nuggets), Kawhi Leonard (Clippers), Damian Lillard (Trail Blazers), Chris Paul (Thunder) and Pascal Siakam (Raptors). Jimmy Butler (Heat), Rudy Gobert (Jazz), Ben Simmons (76ers), Jayson Tatum (Celtics) and Russell Westbrook (Thunder) made the third team.
The voting was conducted based on regular-season games played through March 11, and voters had to choose two guards, two forwards and one center for each team.
Davis, who has helped lead the Los Angeles Lakers to the Western Conference finals, averaged 26.1 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.3 blocked shots during the regular season. He previously finished second in this season’s Defensive Player of the Year voting to Antetokounmpo.
Three other former Cats (Bam Adebayo, Karl-Anthony Towns and Devin Booker) and one ex-Louisville Cardinals star (Donovan Mitchell) were among those receiving votes.
Adebayo, who has had a breakout season for the Miami Heat and previously finished second in the Most Improved Player voting, appeared on 26 ballots, all for the third team. Towns earned two third-team votes and Booker received three third-team nods. One voter had Mitchell on the second team and seven others the third team.
▪ On Tuesday, the NBA announced that former UK stars Tyler Herro and PJ Washington were voted to the All-Rookie Second Team.
This story was originally published September 16, 2020 at 3:30 PM.
