The All-NBA teams were revealed this week, and predictably no Wizards made the cut or even received any votes at all. When the teams were revealed I was doom scrolling through the ruins of Twitter while on the clock at work when I came across a topical post that blew my mind.
Someone had compiled a list of every NBA team’s last All-NBA First Team selection, and I have never seen such an accurate snapshot of the recent history of every team in the league.
Only a couple of entries on the list surprised me. The Brooklyn Nets’ latest first-team selection was Jason Kidd way back in 2004 when the team was still in New Jersey, meaning that Kevin Durant never cracked the first team in Brooklyn.
In fact, largely due to injuries, Durant only made a single All-NBA team in Brooklyn (second team) and hasn’t made the first team since 2018, his second-to-last season with the Warriors.
The Toronto Raptors have also never had an All-NBA First Team player, which makes sense for the team’s middling history… beyond the fact that one-year rental Kawhi Leonard tore through the league in 2019. When I think of the 2019 NBA season, I think of Kawhi Leonard, yet he only managed to crack the second team that year.
Two other teams have never had an All-NBA First Team player, though they are the two you’d reasonably guess.
The Indiana Pacers are one, as they have been a consistently good NBA team throughout their history, but they’ve always been defined by depth rather than top-level talent. The Charlotte Hornets are the other, and… yup. In fact, no Hornet has even made the second team since Glen Rice in 1997.
I can’t say I was surprised by the team who owns the longest first team selection drought (other than the three who have never had one). Just as All-Rookie selections accurately sum up the Wizards’ recent history, the fact that Washington’s last All-NBA First Team selection was Elvin Hayes way back in 1979 perfectly captures the franchise’s nearly half-century of topping out at “pretty good.”
In fact, only one Wizard has even made the All-NBA Second Team in the 21st century: Gilbert Arenas during the 2007 season.
I wrote recently about how the Pacers built their team and what the Wizards can learn from them. The fact that Indiana has never had a first-team player yet currently sits on the precipice of the NBA Finals is a comforting idea for a Wizards team that still lacks a franchise player as currently constructed.
Perhaps that franchise player will show up in one of the upcoming drafts, where the Wizards will surely be picking high for a few consecutive years. Or maybe there’s a Tyrese Haliburton waiting out there to be plucked from another team.