DeAndre Jordan Named All-NBA First Team, Chris Paul Second Team

Today, the All-NBA Teams were released, and the Clippers had two representatives, with DeAndre Jordan on the All-NBA 1st Team and Chris Paul on the All-NBA 2nd Team.  This comes in the same year that Jordan didn't even make the All-Star team.

These results follow yesterday's announcement, which named both Paul and Jordan to the All-Defensive First Team, which makes this a pretty cool dual accomplishment for both players.

Obviously a large part of Jordan's selection is due to the mandatory presence of a Center on the All-NBA teams in an era where there really isn't a center that's top-5 in the NBA, but it's still an indicator that he's viewed as the best center in the league, which is pretty cool regardless of the center position's relative importance to other eras.

Paul missed out on first team behind Curry and Westbrook.  Steph Curry was a unanimous selection to the All-NBA first team while Russell Westbrook got 120 of 129 possible first-team votes.  Paul received 8 first-team votes.  It could be argued that he deserves recognition over Westbrook due to his performance without Blake Griffin all season, but ultimately all three of those guards had really amazing seasons, and Russell's transcendent statistical accomplishment likely wooed voters.

Jordan received 39 first-team votes, 36 second-team votes, and 14 third-team votes, for a total of 317 points.  Second-place center DeMarcus Cousins finished with 32 first-team votes and 277 points.  Third-place Andre Drummond finished with 13 first-place votes and 173 points.

Notably, James Harden and Anthony Davis didn't make any of the All-NBA teams.  These are fair results that would have been shocking at the beginning of the season.

The All-NBA first team, in full, consists of Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, and DeAndre Jordan.  The full All-NBA second team consists of Chris Paul, Damian Lillard, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, and DeMarcus Cousins.  The full All-NBA third team consists of Klay Thompson, Kyle Lowry, Paul George, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Andre Drummond.

The only other Clipper to receive a vote was Blake Griffin, who was on one voter's third team.  I'm as big of a Blake fan as there is--but someone must have forgotten that he missed 45 games.

In the end, there isn't a lot to take away from these awards, but it's pretty damn cool to have two players chosen, especially for DeAndre Jordan who has had a long journey from being a second-round pick, to signing a way-too-big offer sheet with Golden State that the Clippers matched, to not being able to play fourth quarters under Vinny Del Negro, to finally earning that money under Doc Rivers, and then leaving-but-not-leaving the Clippers for Dallas this summer.  He got his max contract, and he now he has the recognition in the form of an All-NBA First Team selection too.