Following another standout season in which he took yet another Greek Freak-sized Euro-step forward, ascending into the league’s elite, Giannis Antetokounmpo was named to the All-NBA Second Team. The league made the announcement on Thursday.
This is the second straight year the Bucks forward has been named Second Team All-NBA, becoming the first Milwaukee player since Sidney Moncrief in 1984-85 and 1985-86 to be honored in back-to-back seasons. Antetokounmpo is just the fifth player in franchise history to earn All-NBA honors multiple times.
In his fifth NBA season, Antetokounmpo led the Bucks to their second consecutive playoff berth and the team’s most wins since the 2009-10 season, while setting new career highs in points (26.9, tied for fourth in the NBA) and rebounds (10.0, 11th in the NBA) per game, in addition to dishing out 4.8 assists per game (second-highest of his career).
He also shot a career-best 52.9 percent from the field, becoming one of only four players since 1976 (Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, David Robinson) to average at least 26.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game while shooting 50.0 percent or better for a season. On the season, Antetokounmpo scored 2,014 points, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Redd as the only players in Bucks history to record 2,000 points in a season.
In February, Antetokounmpo made his second consecutive start in the All-Star Game, being named a starter after receiving the most player votes (226), tied for the most media votes (99) and the second-most fan votes (2,530,211).
Antetokounmpo is joined on the All-NBA Second Team by LaMarcus Aldridge (San Antonio Spurs), DeMar DeRozan (Toronto Raptors), Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers) and Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder).
The All-NBA First Team features LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers), James Harden (Houston Rockets), Anthony Davis (New Orleans Pelicans), Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers) and Kevin Durant (Golden State Warriors). The third team comprises The All-NBA Third Team is made up of Jimmy Butler (Minnesota Timberwolves), Stephen Curry (Warriors), Paul George (Thunder), guard Victor Oladipo (Indiana Pacers) and Karl-Anthony Towns (Timberwolves).
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
