Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard earns 2nd-team All-NBA honor
Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard, whose season was cut short by a knee injury, was named to the 2023-24 All-NBA second team, the league announced on Wednesday. It is the sixth time in his 12-year career he has received an All-NBA distinction.
Leonard appeared in 68 games this season before sitting out the Clippers’ final eight regular-season games because of a swollen right knee. Although he played in two of the team’s six first-round playoff games against the Dallas Mavericks, Leonard was visibly hampered by his surgically repaired knee that flared up in late March.
The six-time All-Star and two-time NBA Finals MVP was the only player in the league this season to shoot at least 52% from the field, 41% from 3-point range and 88% from the free-throw line. He also ranked fifth in the NBA in steals (1.6) and averaged career highs in field goal percentage and minutes played per game (34.3).
Leonard previously was named to the All-NBA first team in 2016, ’17 and ’21, and the second team in 2019 and ’20. He was joined on this year’s second team by the Lakers’ Anthony Davis, the New York Knicks’ Jalen Bronson, Phoenix forward Kevin Durant and Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards.
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, who earlier this month was named the league’s Most Valuable Player for the third time, headlined the All-NBA first team. The others were Dallas’ Luka Doncic, Oklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Milwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and Boston’s Jayson Tatum.
The third team was Lakers star LeBron James (the 20th selection of his 21-year career), Golden State’s Steph Curry (the 10th selection of his career), Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis, Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton and Phoenix’s Devin Booker.
The All-NBA teams are voted on by a panel of 99 reporters and broadcasters who cover the NBA. They vote for players with points awarded on a 5-3-1 basis. This season was the first time that All-NBA, along with All-Defense, were voted on without regard to positions – as opposed to having two guards, two forwards and one center on each of the teams, a formula that had been in place since the 1950s. Players also had to appear in a minimum number of games, in most cases, to be eligible for award consideration.