NEW YORK (AFP) — Victor Wembanyama was named to his first All-National Basketball Association (NBA) First Team on Sunday but failed by one vote to join Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic as a unanimous selection to the elite squad.
The 22-year-old French superstar, who has sparked the San Antonio Spurs into the Western Conference finals against Gilgeous-Alexander and Oklahoma City, received 99 of 100 possible first-team votes by a global media panel, and one second-team nod.
Wembanyama, a 7-foot-4 center, was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year.
Canada's Gilgeous-Alexander won his second consecutive NBA Most Valuable Player award this season while Serbian big man Jokic is a three-time Most Valuable Player with Denver.
"SGA" and Jokic received 100 votes and 500 total points with "Wemby" third overall on 498.
They were joined on the elite first lineup by Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers, a Slovenian guard with 91 first-place votes who like Jokic made his sixth All-NBA first team, and Detroit's Cade Cunningham, an American guard who had 60 first-team votes.
The All-NBA Second Team included Boston's Jaylen Brown, Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers, Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell, Houston's Kevin Durant and New York's Jalen Brunson.
