The NBA has officially announced its All-Defensive teams for the 2024/25 season (Twitter links).
The teams are determined by a panel of 100 media members, with players receiving two points for a First Team vote and one point for a Second Team vote.
There were no unanimous First Team selections this year, but Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley came close, having been named to the First Team on 99 ballots (Twitter link). He was selected to the Second Team on the 100th ballot, for a total of 199 points.
The honorees are as follows, along with their point totals:
First Team
- Evan Mobley, Cavaliers (199 points)
- Dyson Daniels, Hawks (191)
- Luguentz Dort, Thunder (180)
- Draymond Green, Warriors (179)
- Amen Thompson, Rockets (171)
Second Team
- Ivica Zubac, Clippers (114)
- Jaren Jackson Jr., Grizzlies (107)
- Jalen Williams, Thunder (79)
- Toumani Camara, Trail Blazers (74)
- Rudy Gobert, Timberwolves (65)
The NBA adjusted the voting rules in 2023 to allow All-Defensive ballots to be positionless. Up until that point, each team consisted of two guards, two forwards, and a center.
Despite the lack of positional requirements, this year’s teams are reasonably well balanced — while Mobley, Green, Zubac, Jackson, and Gobert all serve as defensive anchors for their respective clubs, Mobley, Green, and Jackson spend much of their time on the court playing forward rather than center.
It’s the ninth time that Green has made an All-Defensive team and the eighth time that Gobert has earned the honor. Jackson and Mobley have each been recognized multiple times too — it’s the third time Jackson has made the cut and the second time for Mobley. However, Daniels, Dort, Thompson, Zubac, Williams, and Camara have never been named All-Defensive players before this season.
Among the other players who received votes, Knicks forward OG Anunoby came closest to cracking the top 10, having been named to the First Team on two ballots and the Second Team on 45 ballots for a total of 49 points. An additional 13 players received at least one vote, but none of them had more than 18 total points.
That group of players who missed the cut includes Heat big man Bam Adebayo, whose streak of five straight All-Defensive seasons has come to an end.
Players were required to meet the criteria of the 65-game rule in order to qualify for All-Defensive consideration. The full voting results can be viewed here (Twitter link).
As Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, Dort has earned a $500K bonus for making the First Team this season. In addition to increasing his earnings for this season, that will bump Dort’s cap hit for 2025/26 from $17,722,222 to $18,222,222, since the bonus will now be considered likely to be earned next season.
Conversely, after missing out on All-Defensive spots this season, Derrick White and Jaden McDaniels will see their cap hits for next season reduced by $250K and $431K, respectively, Marks adds (Twitter link). Those bonuses, which had been considered likely after the duo earned All-Defensive nods in 2024, won’t be earned this season, which means the Celtics and Timberwolves will each receive a tax variance credit and both bonuses will be considered unlikely for 2025/26.
IMO
Alex Caruso is the best defensive player of the year
Alex Caruso has proven to be the best perimeter defender
My other top defenders
Chet Holmgren
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Derrick White
OG Anunoby
Caruso doesn’t play enough minutes to qualify.
He also missed a chunk of games averaged les than 20min a game. Chat missed a large chunk due to pelvic injury. They don’t qualify for accolades.
I second that Alex Caruso is an incredible defender
I always think Caruso is super short for some reason, but he’s 6’5″.
No quibbles here, good choices.
On another note, one could put the entire Thunder rotation in if they had three teams for all Defense and no games played restriction.
Jaden Mcdaniels robbed
Dyson Daniels isn’t a good rim or perimeter defender, he just hunts steals…christ, these award voters are morons. Also was Curry all defensive the 2 years he led the league in steals? Nope. Hypocrites.
Lmao I would love to meet you IRL. I’m so curious as to what the reality is behind the ramblings of a mad man.
Do you not watch the games? I do. I see no good defense being played by Daniels, he just purely hunts steals as other teams dump points on him. You will see later.
You’re just slow
You don’t know ball
OG should be on the second team easy.
Knicks never get the respect. Cause they are so successful as a franchise. And it’s not even based on winning. That all other players will always get the benefit of the doubt. OG plays more mins than all of them. Usually on a team the Center anchors the team D. On the Knicks OG is the one who anchors the team D. Knicks do it with OG, Bridges, Hart. Unfortunately that’s where Towns needs big improvement.
Toumani Camara really deserved it, nice to see him being recognized
Draymond Green isnt a all defensive type player anymore, he is still a good help defender but his 1v1 defense is soooo far gone. Popularity contest sadly.
No Bulls? Huh. Go figure.
Og is by far the best all around defender in the league