Thunder’s Gilgeous-Alexander receives unanimous All-NBA first team honours

Canadian basketball star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder is a unanimous selection to the All-NBA first team.

Hamilton’s Gilgeous-Alexander and NBA MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets were the only consensus first-team selections on this season’s All-NBA team, which was revealed by the league on Wednesday night.

Dallas’ Luka Doncic, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Boston’s Jayson Tatum also made the first team.

Gilgeous-Alexander and Doncic are in position to make around $1 million US per game a few years from now.

The All-NBA nods mean they are poised for supermax extensions that can be signed in 2025, both of which would set records.

Doncic can sign a five-year deal worth about $347 million, starting at nearly $60 million in 2026-27 and ending at about $79 million in 2030-31.

Gilgeous-Alexander will be eligible to sign a four-year extension worth about $294 million. His would start in 2027-28 at around $65 million — and the final year, 2030-31, would see him earning just over $81 million, or nearly $1 million per game. It would be the first time an NBA player’s annual salary has topped $80 million.

The third team had Lakers star LeBron James, Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis, Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton and Phoenix’s Devin Booker.

James is now the youngest — and the oldest — player to make an All-NBA team.

The NBA changed the rules starting with this season and All-NBA voting is now positionless — as opposed to having two guards, two forwards and one centre on each of the teams, a formula that had been in place since the 1950s. Players also had to appear in a minimum number of games, in most cases, to be eligible for award consideration from the panel of 99 broadcasters and writers who served as the voting panel.

LeBron extends record

For James, who was the youngest player to make All-NBA when he was voted onto the team for the 2004-05 season, another selection only added to his list of accomplishments.

Abdul-Jabbar and Duncan were both just a few days from turning 39 when the regular seasons ended in what became their final All-NBA campaigns, Abdul-Jabbar’s being 1985-86 and Duncan’s being 2014-15. James — the NBA’s career scoring leader — played in 71 games this season, the last 42 of those coming after he turned 39.

Also seeing major financial boosts from their All-NBA selections were Edwards and Haliburton, both of whom agreed to extensions last summer that were to be worth about $205 million — and now will be worth about $245 million over the next five seasons.

Durant made All-NBA for the 11th time, tying for the 12th-most in NBA history.