Damian Lillard makes First Team All-NBA for first time ever
An extraordinary season from Damian Lillard earned himself at least a spot on the All-NBA roster. A first team spot, however, is a nice surprise!
In a season that turned dark quickly for the Blazers, today provided a bright spot. Three time All-Star Damian Lillard was voted to the First Team All-NBA roster, along with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, James Harden, and Kevin Durant.
All-NBA teams:
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 24, 2018
First: LeBron James, James Harden, Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard, Kevin Durant.
Second: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Russell Westbrook, Joel Embiid, LaMarcus Aldridge, DeMar DeRozan.
Third: Stephen Curry, Victor Oladipo, Karl-Anthony Towns, Jimmy Butler, Paul George.
He received 71 First Team votes, 24 Second Team votes and 5 Third Team Votes. This gave him a total of 432 points, ahead of Kevin Durant (426) and behind Anthony Davis (492).
Russell Westbrook earned the Second Team’s point guard position with 322 points.
Damian Lillard’s 2017-2018 season
Lillard had a fantastic year, finishing fourth in the NBA in scoring and tied for tenth in assists. He also ranked third in free-throw percentage, third in free throws made and tied for sixth in made three pointers per game.
Dame averaged 26.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.1 steals in 36.6 minutes per game. His career-best play led the Blazers to the third seed for the first time since 2000-2001. Portland also won the Northwest Division in the process.
Related Story: Making the case for Damian Lillard to be All-NBA first team
Lillard’s career is off to a historic start. He’s scored 1,500 points and 400 assists in each of his first six seasons, joining LeBron James and Oscar Robertson as the only players to reach this milestones (not bad company).
He is one of only eight players to score 10,000 points and 2,500 assists across his first six seasons.
Finally, Dame is one of only two players to make 100 three-point shots in each of his first six seasons and was the fastest Trail Blazer to crack the 10,000-point milestone.
This is Damian Lillard’s third All-NBA honor (Third Team in 2013-14 and Second Team in 2015-16). Portland has had seven players selected to an All-NBA roster, only three of which made the First Team.
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Upon hearing the news, he said, “That’s real cool! For me, that’s really high on my list of accomplishments, to be considered one of the top 5 players in the league.”
Congratulations to Damian Lillard on this honor! Looks like he’ll celebrate at Oaks Park on Friday night.