I'll go ahead and offer up my choices for All-NBA thus far as well.
1st Team:
F: Giannis Antetokounmpo
F: LeBron James
C: Nikola Jokic
G: Luka Doncic
G: Damian Lillard
Harden will end up first team because most of the media is just going to look at his scoring average and forget how wildly inconsistent he's been all season, but the fact is Doncic and Lillard have simply done more with less.
2nd Team:
F: Kawhi Leonard
F: Anthony Davis
C: Rudy Gobert
G: James Harden
G: Ben Simmons
Trae Young's numbers are insane, but the Hawks are still a bottom 3 team in the league and I couldn't justify putting him over Simmons here.
3rd Team:
F: Jimmy Butler
F: Pascal Siakam
C: Hassan Whiteside
G: Trae Young
G: Chris Paul
The toughest decision here was Chris Paul or Bradley Beal. Beal is putting up monster numbers, has less talent around him and yet still has the Wiz right outside the playoffs in the East. On the other hand, the Wiz are right outside the playoffs in the East. Chris Paul was basically considered damaged goods after his tenure with the Rockets, but has managed to lead the Thunder solidly into the playoff picture, which I don't think anyone expected. The second forward spot was between Pascal, Bam and Sabonis. I really wanted to put Sabonis here, but in the end I realized it would mostly just be a homer pick. But he has evolved in a big way this season, and as a result the Pacers didn't really miss a beat without Vic. Whiteside was the most eye-popping name when looking at AA's list, and then when I looked at the list of centers in the league...I can't really argue the choice. Embiid has missed a lot of games, and Whiteside's production is basically identical to Gobert's. I went the other way with the two because Gobert has been the identity of a team near the top of the West, and Whiteside has just been kind of a dude next to Lillard.
