For the first time in four years, Anthony Davis has been officially acknowledged as one of the league’s top players, while LeBron James is still setting the standard in the latter stages of his career.

On Wednesday, James and Davis were picked to the 2023–24 NBA All-Star teams; Davis was selected to the second team, while James was selected to the third.

This was Davis’ first All-NBA selection after he was selected to the first team during the 2019–20 season.

James was voted onto the squad for the 2004–05 season, making him the youngest player to be selected to the All–NBA team. This selection only made his list of achievements longer.

His record was maintained with 20 All-NBA overall selections, which is currently five more than Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar combined. In addition to being the first player to be selected for the All-NBA regular season at the age of 39 or older, his 20 consecutive selections set another record.

When the regular seasons concluded in what would become their final All-NBA campaigns—Duncan’s in 2014–15 and Abdul-Jabbar’s in 1985–86—both players were only days away from turning 39. This season, James—the NBA’s all-time leading scorer—played in 71 games, the final 42 of which came after he turned 39.

While Davis has been selected to the first team four times and the second team once, James has been selected to the first team thirteen times, the second team three times, and the third team four times.

With an average of 24.7 points on 55.6% shooting, 12.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 2.3 blocked shots per game during the regular season, Davis may have had his best season to date. He played in a career-high 76 games during the regular season.

This season, the 31-year-old big man is the only player selected to both the All-NBA and All-Defensive teams.

In 71 games this season, James averaged 25.7 points, 8.3 assists, and 7.3 rebounds while shooting 41% from 3-point range and 54% from the field. This is his record 20th straight season of at least 25 points per game. In addition to having the best shooting percentage of his six seasons as a Laker, his 3-point accuracy was career-high.

James, 39, just finished his 21st NBA season. Against the Denver Nuggets on March 2, he became the first player in league history to surpass 40,000 career points. He also extended his NBA record double-digit scoring run to 1,222 games during the regular season.

A group of 99 NBA reporters and broadcasters submit their votes to determine which teams make the All-NBA team. They cast their votes for players based on a 5-3-1 point distribution. Unlike previous seasons, when each club had two guards, two forwards, and one center, this season was the first time that votes for All-NBA and All-Defense were cast without consideration to a player’s position. This system had been in effect since the 1950s. In most situations, players had to appear in a minimum number of games in order to be considered for an award.

The only other unanimous first-team selections were guard Gilgeous-Alexander of Oklahoma City and center Nikola Jokic of Denver, who was selected for the sixth time in his career. Luka Doncic of Dallas (fifth consecutive pick), Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee (sixth consecutive selection), and Jayson Tatum of Boston joined them on the first team.

Jalen Brunson of New York, Anthony Edwards of Minnesota, Kevin Durant of Phoenix (the 11th pick of his career), Kawhi Leonard of the Clippers, and Davis made up the second team.

James, Steph Curry of Golden State (the 10th pick of his career), Domantas Sabonis of Sacramento, Tyrese Haliburton of Indiana, and Devin Booker of Phoenix comprised the third team.

James did receive one first-team vote for the NBA All-Star team, making 19 out of his 21 seasons (the exceptions being 2019 and 2023) where he has received a first-team vote.

Along with Durant and Duncan, Dallas’ Doncic became the third player to have five first-team All-NBA honors prior to turning 26.