All-NBA teams show guards are dominating the league

The All-NBA first team looks like an actual basketball lineup. There's a point guard in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a shooting guard in Donovan Mitchell and Nikola Jokic at center. Jayson Tatum and Giannis Antetokounmpo are an ideal combination of forwards. But in the second and third teams, there are a lot of guards and very few centers.

In the second and third teams, six of the 10 players are guards. Jalen Williams plays forward for the Oklahoma City Thunder, but he's a 6-foot-5 ball handler. Even LeBron James, who is definitely forward-sized, often functions as the point guard of the Los Angeles Lakers.

There are only two players on the All-NBA teams who play center — Jokic and Karl-Anthony Towns — and Towns was primarily a power forward in 2023-24. Second-teamer Evan Mobley is like a center, blocking shots and winning Defensive Player of the Year, but on the Cleveland Cavaliers, he's a power forward.

A lot of this over-representation of guards is due to the pace-and-space era of the modern game. A rim-protecting center can be less important when teams are routinely taking 40 three-pointers per game, while slashing, scoring point guards are more and more valuable.

At least for now. Next season, the team may look very different, with center Victor Wembanyama back from his blood clot issues. OKC's Chet Holmgren could jump into the All-NBA conversation, while Jaren Jackson, Jr. and Alperen Sengun were the biggest vote-getters left out of the teams. In fact, places 16-20 featured four centers, with Ivica Zubac of the Clippers and Domantas Sabonis of the Kings receiving support.

For now, it's a guard's league. Watching All-NBA team members SGA, Jalen Brunson, Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton dominating the playoffs confirms that.