Kyrie Irving earns All-NBA Second Team selection

While much of the talk about Kyrie Irving has centered on his leadership cabilities and whether he will return next season to the Boston Celtics, there’s no questioning the talent he possesses on the floor as Irving was named to the All-NBA Second Team on Thursday.

In his second season in Boston and coming off a knee injury, Irving started in 67 games and netted 23.8 points along with dishing out a career-high 6.9 assists per game in the regular season.

This is just the second time in Irving’s eight-year career that he has garnered All-NBA honors as he was named to the All-NBA Third Team with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2014-15 season. Irving is the most recent Celtic since Isaiah Thomas to be chosen to an All-NBA team as Thomas was a Second Team selection in 2016-17.

Also joining Irving on this year’s All-NBA Second Team were Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, Kawhi Leonard and Damian Lillard.

Beating out those five players for the All-NBA First Team were Giannis Antetokounmpo, Paul George, Stephen Curry, James Harden and Nikola Jokic.

Russell Westbrook, Kemba Walker, LeBron James, Blake Griffin and Rudy Gobert were All-NBA Third Team selections.