Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, the NBA Most Valuable Player award winners from the past three seasons, were matter-of-fact about settling for second-team status when the All-NBA squads were announced.
The Golden State Warriors stars, more concerned about winning the NBA title for the second time in three seasons, shrugged off the fact that none of them were on the All-NBA First Team, selected by a 100-member global media panel.
“No feelings. They pick who they pick,” Durant said. “I’m glad to be a part of it. You’ve just got to know what your worth is as a player, no matter what. But I’m definitely grateful. It’s something you dream a about as a kid to be among the best.”
The All-NBA First Team included Cleveland’s LeBron James, Houston’s James Harden, San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard, New Orleans center Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook of Oklahoma City, the team Durant departed last year to join Golden State.
Durant and 3-point sharpshooter Curry were on the second team while Golden State’s Draymond Green was a third-team forward. No other club had more than one player among the 15 total players named.
“We obviously appreciate that positioning, knowing a lot of guys had great years,” Curry said. “We could go down the list and talk about each one individually. So it is nice to be recognized in some way, shape or form.
“Obviously we have bigger fish to fry with trying to win a championship.”
Golden State guard Klay Thompson was well back in the backcourt voting, a snub that brought the most spark from his Warriors teammates.
“You could obviously shout out Klay and his season. He definitely deserved to be on one of those teams,” Curry said. “I know it’s obviously a tough vote every year to figure out who goes where, but that’s the guy that had an amazing season. He was very consistent all year long.”
Thompson’s reaction about the snub after making the top 15 picks last year was mellow: “That’s all right. It’s no big deal.”
Green called getting a third-team nod “special” and dubbed Thompson not making it “bullshit,” adding “I think it’s pretty crazy. There are some guys on there as scorers averaging 20 points and don’t have nearly as many wins as we have. So how he could be left out?
“What I see amongst these teams is sometimes winning isn’t that important.”
Huge individual feats are important and none was greater than that of Westbrook, who joined Oscar Robertson as the only players to average a triple double for a full NBA season.
“They got it right, I guess, if you’re looking at it,” Durant said. “They got somebody who has a triple double. It’s hard to keep him off… if one of you leaves somebody off that averaged that many points you’re going to get killed on Twitter, right?”
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