2020 NBA Awards

With the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting NBA hiatus throwing award season into disarray, we’re assuming the 2019/20 regular season is close enough to over that it’s safe to start making our unofficial picks for the league’s end-of-year honors.

On Monday, we introduced our first series of All-NBA polls for 2020, asking you to pick two guards, two forwards, and two centers for the First Team. While the results ended up being fairly decisive, the positional eligibility for a pair of Lakers stars became a subject of debate in the comment section.

LeBron James has been an All-NBA forward for 15 straight seasons, but after a season in which he became the Lakers’ de facto point guard and led the league in assists, should he be shifted to the guard category? Based on the fact that he almost always played alongside two other guards in 2019/20, we kept him listed at forward, where he earned one of two All-NBA First Team spots in our poll.

How about Anthony Davis? Some of the Lakers’ most effective lineups include Davis at the center spot. However, he spent more time overall playing alongside Dwight Howard or JaVale McGee than he did at the five, and he has talked in the recent past about preferring to play power forward. We gave you the option of voting for Davis at either forward or center, and you picked him as your All-NBA First Team center. It’s not clear whether or not actual All-NBA voters will have the same flexibility or make the same choice.

Here are the voting results so far:

2020 All-NBA First Team

• Guard: Luka Doncic (Mavericks)
• Guard: James Harden (Rockets)
• Forward: Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks)
• Forward: LeBron James (Lakers)
• Center: Anthony Davis (Lakers)

We’re moving on today to the All-NBA Second Team, so be sure to cast your votes below for the two guards, two forwards, and one center that you believe are most deserving of being named to that squad. Don’t forget that a few players qualify at two positions.

You’ll have about 48 hours for this round of voting before we move on to the All-NBA Third Team on Wednesday. You’ll also have the opportunity to select two players apiece in the guard and forward polls, so be sure to take advantage of that. And if there’s a player not listed below that you believe deserves All-NBA consideration, be sure to mention him in the comments section too — if I agree, I’ll make sure he’s included in our All-NBA Third Team polls later this week.

Guards:

(Choose two)

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote on the All-NBA Second Team guards.

Forwards:

(Choose two)

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote on the All-NBA Second Team forwards.

Center:

(Choose one)

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote on the All-NBA Second Team center.

The NBA’s usual award season is in flux due to the coronavirus pandemic. Under normal circumstances, the regular season would be over by this point and voting would have taken place on the league’s major awards. This year, however, it’s unclear if or when the season will resume after being suspended last month, creating uncertainty about whether players will get any more regular season games to make their cases for award consideration, and about when voting will take place.

That’s hardly the most pressing concern facing the NBA, but as we remain in a holding pattern waiting for updates on how the league may proceed, we might as well engage in some award speculation.

For now, our assumption is that if the regular season isn’t entirely over, it’s very close to it. Even if the league is able to resume play this summer, there will likely only be a handful of regular season games on an abridged schedule. Those games are unlikely to have a massive impact on players’ cases for awards, so we’re moving forward with our annual vote on our All-NBA teams now.

We want to give you an opportunity to make your own picks, starting today with the First Team. We’ll move onto the Second Team later in the week, and the Third Team after that.

Polls for the guards, forwards, and center are below — you’ll have the opportunity to pick two players apiece in the guard and forward polls. We’ll leave today’s polls open for at least the next 48 hours before naming the players with the most votes to our All-NBA First Team and moving on to voting for the Second Team.

A couple caveats before we move onto the polls:

1. If there’s a player you believe deserves All-NBA consideration who isn’t named below, be sure to mention him in the comment section — if I agree, I’ll make sure he’s included in our Second and Third Team polls.
2. There are a few players I’ve listed at multiple positions. If there are any other players you believe deserve to be listed at a second position, please make your case in the comments and I’ll consider making adjustments for the Second and Third Team polls.

Vote for your All-NBA First Team below, then take to the comment section to explain your picks!

Guards:

(Choose two)

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote on the All-NBA First Team guards.

Forwards:

(Choose two)

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote on the All-NBA First Team forwards.

Center:

(Choose one)

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote on the All-NBA First Team center.