With the NBA regular season coming to a close, the hardcore awards discussion is at its pinnacle. The major awards seem to be (mostly) solidified at this point, but the interesting and more complex arguments are for the All-NBA and All-Defensive teams.
Today, we will sort through which ten players should make up the 2024 All-Defensive teams, setting aside the players’ reputations and star status. Instead, we will focus solely on which players have had the biggest defensive impacts this season and how much their defensive skills have helped translate to winning basketball throughout this 2023–2024 season.
The All-Defensive arguments are always the toughest to sort out because the types of elite defenders vary significantly. What should be valued most? Daunting rim protection? Lockdown perimeter defense? Positional versatility? A mix of the three?
The discussion is complicated further when you must consider how much defensive help that player has on the court with him. What is more important, a player who can make a bad defensive team above average or great when he is on the court?... Or a player who is a valuable piece of an elite team defense, but does not have to carry as much of the load?
Lastly, this is the first year that the 65-game minimum for all-defensive teams must also be considered. Without further ado, let’s sort through the madness! We begin with our potential All-Defensive caliber players who will not meet the 65-game minimum and our “Other Honorable Mentions” group: