The 2021-22 All-NBA teams were announced on Tuesday with a bend towards the younger players that can only be called historic.
The All-NBA First Team guards are Luka Dončić from the Dallas Mavericks and Devin Booker from the Phoenix Suns. The forwards are Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo and Boston Celtics standout Jayson Tatum. Denver Nuggets center and the NBA’s reigning two-time MVP, Nikola Jokić, is the center. Antetokounmpo is the oldest of that quintet and will not turn 28 until December. It’s the first time the All-NBA First Team has had five players that young in 67 years.
The Kia All-NBA First Team is made up entirely of players age 27 or younger for the first time since the 1954-55 season.
More ➡️ https://t.co/nzFuNn37iT
Voting results ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/62uiQpWv4o
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 25, 2022
The reactions to these teams had a lot of varience.
The youth movement did catch the attention of some NBA fans.
The future of the NBA is bright https://t.co/aPfsZ1fB73
— Jeff Logsdon (@logsdonjef) May 25, 2022
Jason Tatum is only 24 yrs old. 👀 ☘️ #BleedGreen https://t.co/JHtam2j2PI
— Ryan Toussaint (@ryan_2saint) May 25, 2022
Youth movement. Great for the league https://t.co/ss64ehjACI
— Sensei (@king_dmv) May 25, 2022
But that wasn’t the only thing that stood out. There was one matter that didn’t add up to several fans. Antetokounmpo was All-NBA First Team on every ballot. So, how did he not win the league’s MVP?
100% first team votes. but didn’t win MVP. Lol. https://t.co/mTYN6myXk1
— alyssa (@flawwlyss) May 25, 2022
Giannis… https://t.co/nD0d7tZfZN
— Craig Coshun (@CraigCoshun) May 25, 2022
How did Giannis get a perfect score but not MVP? https://t.co/2plEdlHEfa
— AM (@AMfromAT97) May 25, 2022
giannis having 100% first team votes without winning mvp is INSANITY https://t.co/pPwwwX7iJf
— ez (@eeezezn) May 25, 2022
Giannis with perfect 500 but didn’t win MVP, voter fatigue is real https://t.co/IODOYcTpiI
— David (@escamilla24) May 25, 2022
These votings are always weird to me because wouldn’t this kind of signal that Giannis should’ve been MVP? https://t.co/GenWUcA65c
— Space Mountain (@thatbadmankaleb) May 25, 2022
Antetokounmpo finished third in MVP voting. While Jokić won, the man who finished second was Joel Embiid. But despite such high placement in the MVP voting, he was not even named All-NBA First Team.
They really need to make these All NBA teams positionlees (like they do with all rookie teams). It’s a straight insult to Joel Embiid after the season he had to be named 2nd team All-NBA #joelembiid #NBA @sixers @JoelEmbiid https://t.co/QIxDFiv2i0
— Bulls Central (@BullsCentralYT) May 25, 2022
The Media:
“eMbiId iS mY mvP”
Meanwhile: https://t.co/K5XeyyHa90
— Keanú Rattray 🇯🇲 (@YesLikeReeves) May 25, 2022
Joel Embiid not being on the 1st team is embarrassing to the game of basketball. #Sixers https://t.co/hxoZg5QRXy
— Jeff Kerr (@JeffKerrCBS) May 25, 2022
One other matter seemed to catch the eye of those in the NBA world. While LeBron James received only two All-NBA First Team votes, that was two too many in the eyes of some.
https://twitter.com/AlexGoldenNBA/status/1529265781023858690
https://twitter.com/thisblackgye/status/1529265390672412672
whoever voted for bron as 1st team needs his voting rights revoked… https://t.co/tr3JSUXrHe
— JH 4X🏆 (@BuildPressure) May 25, 2022
