Former Duke basketball standout Jayson Tatum was named to his first-ever All-NBA team.
The 2019-20 season is a year of firsts for Jayson Tatum as the former Blue Devil not only made his first All-Star appearance but now has also been voted to his first All-NBA team.
As the NBA continues to slowly announce its regular season awards with no end-of-year award show because of the coronavirus pandemic, the league is building toward ultimately naming Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo as the Most Valuable Player, the league’s first back-to-back winner since Stephen Curry in 2015-2016.
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Antetokounmpo joined LeBron James as the only two unanimous selections to the All-NBA First Team as James Harden, Anthony Davis, and Luka Doncic were also voted to the team.
The All-NBA Second Team was comprised of Damian Lillard, Chris Paul, Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam, and Nikola Jokic.
Jayson Tatum was named to the All-NBA Third Team with Ben Simmons, Russell Westbrook, Jimmy Butler, and Rudy Gobert as the former Blue Devil earned 153 total votes, the most of any player on the Third Team.
Pascal Siakam received 15 more votes than Tatum for the final spot on the Second Team, but it was Jayson Tatum who got the last laugh as his Boston Celtics defeated Siakam’s Toronto Raptors in seven games in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
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Prior to the NBA’s shutdown in mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic, Tatum was averaging 23.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.4 steals per game on 45.0 percent shooting from the field and 40.3 percent shooting from 3-point range.
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Many more All-NBA teams are certainly in the future for Jayson Tatum, but he has more important things on his mind as the Boston Celtics trail the Miami Heat, 1-0, in the Eastern Conference Finals with Game Two scheduled for 7:00pm EST on Thursday, September 17 on ESPN.