What are Victor Oladipo’s chances of making an All-NBA Team?

The sure things

In addition to the toughest omissions, there are a select few players who really don’t need to be discussed at length because they’ve separated themselves as a notch above, which, given the field of candidates, is a truly unique accomplishment.

James Harden might not be named the unanimous MVP, but he should be damn close. He’s the best player on the best team in the league, leading the NBA in scoring while dropping the third-most dimes per game. According to Basketball-Reference, he is on pace to become the first qualified player ever to finish with a usage rate of 36 and a true shooting percentage of 61. In a year where almost nothing is certain, he is the only player guaranteed to make the All-NBA First Team.

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Damian Lillard isn’t a lock to make the First Team, but he’s done enough to guarantee him a spot somewhere on the roster. From an optics point of view, he checks all the boxes: best player on a top-five team, sixth in the league in scoring, 12th in assists, and fourth in 3-point attempts per game, making his 37.6 percent shooting from deep more than respectable. He’s also hit a ton of big shots. After Harden, he’s the guard you might remember most from this season when you look back in 10 years. He’s getting on.

Last (and, actually, least) on the list of guaranteed names is Russell Westbrook. You might hate Russ’ game with a passion. There’s an argument to be made that he doesn’t always make his teammates better, which is sort of supposed to be a point guard’s job. He’s also sporting a 52.6 true shooting percentage, which isn’t exactly the model of efficiency (it’s nearly a full 10 percentage points below Harden).

All that being said, he’s going to average another triple-double (or come damn close), and after a slow start to the year, has once again turned into a wholly unique force in a league full of top-notch talent. At the end of the day, we’ll look up and see last year’s MVP with his name somewhere on the All-NBA team. Why? As Henry Hill would say, it was outta respect.