Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo named first-team all-NBA to cap historic season
Giannis Antetokounmpo had a historic season for the Milwaukee Bucks in 2023-24, which was capped with his sixth straight first-team all-NBA selection on Wednesday night.
It is his eighth consecutive all-NBA team. In the new position-less voting, Antetokounmpo received 88 first-team votes and 11 second-team votes. He was a unanimous first-team selection last season.
The 2023-24 season saw him become the first player in NBA history to average at least 30 points per game while shooting 60% from the field. Former Bucks legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had come closest to the feat in 1970-71 when he averaged 31.7 points on 57.7% shooting.
Antetokounmpo finished his season averaging 30.4 points per game on 61.1% shooting, which was also the most points scored per game on at least 60% shooting in NBA history.
Joining Antetokounmpo on the first-team were league MVP Nikola Jokić of Denver, Luka Dončić of Dallas, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Oklahoma City and Jayson Tatum of Boston.
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It was Antetokounmpo’s second straight season averaging at least 30 points per game, and he was second in the NBA in scoring this year behind Dončić (33.9). Abdul-Jabbar is the only Bucks player to ever score at least 30 points per game in consecutive seasons, doing it three straight times from 1970-73.
A season-ending calf injury on April 9 likely prevented Antetokounmpo from setting two other records, as he finished second in NBA history with 28 games of at least 30 points on 60% shooting (Abdul-Jabbar had 30 in 1970-71) and second all-time with 13 games of at least 30 points on 70% shooting with 13 (Charles Barkley had 15 in 1987-88).
Antetokounmpo also finished sixth in the league in rebounding at 11.5 per game and he set a career-high with 6.5 assists per game. His 2023-24 season was just the ninth time a player averaged more than 30 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists in a single campaign – and it was the second straight in which the Bucks star has done it.
He joined Oscar Robertson (1960-62) as the only players to do it in back-to-back seasons, and joined Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain (1963-64, 1965-66) as the only players to do it twice in a career.
To accentuate how rare such a season is, the only other NBA player to do it since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1970-71 in Milwaukee was Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook in 2016-17.
Abdul-Jabbar, Westbrook and Chamberlain all won the league MVP in the seasons in which they accomplished the feat.
Antetokounmpo finished fourth in MVP voting, his worst showing in that category since finishing fourth in 2020-21. He won the award in back-to-back seasons in 2018-20.
Antetokounmpo also set a career-high with 10 triple-doubles, which was fourth-most in the NBA.
On a franchise level, Antetokounmpo continued to sweep up the top spots in different statistical categories. He is now No. 1 in Bucks history in total rebounds (7,732), made field goals (6,732) and wins (504).
He also set the single-game franchise scoring record with a 64-point effort against Indiana on Dec. 13, surpassing the previous high of 57 set by Michael Redd in 2006.
Antetokounmpo also made his eighth straight all-star team last season, which is the second-longest active streak in the NBA behind LeBron James (20).
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Giannis Antetokounmpo named first-team all-NBA to cap historic season
