The NBA announced today that Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers has been named to the All-NBA Second Team. It’s Embiid’s third career selection to an All-NBA Team after making the Second Team in both 2017-18 and 2018-19.
With three selections, Embiid joins Hall of Famers Allen Iverson, Charles Barkley, Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Billy Cunningham, Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer and Dolph Schayes as the only Philadelphia players ever to make at least three All-NBA teams.
Embiid received 352 points, including 28 First Team votes, 70 Second Team votes and two Third Team votes from a global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters. Voters selected two guards, two forwards and one center for each team, choosing players at the position where they play regularly. Players who received votes at multiple positions were slotted at the position where they received the most votes.
In his fifth NBA season, Embiid appeared in 51 games (all starts) and ended the season ranking fourth in the NBA in scoring at a career-high 28.5 points per game while grabbing 10.6 rebounds per contest and shooting .513 from the field. He was one of two players this season to average such numbers.
He also posted a double-double 31 times which led the team, including 16 games with at least 30 points and 10 boards, which were the second-most in the league. The former Kansas Jayhawk led the NBA in free throws made per contest (9.2) and free throws attempted per game (10.7), while finishing second in total free throws made (471) and free-throw attempts (548).
With season averages of 28.5 points and 10.6 rebounds while shooting .513 from the field, .377 from three-point range and .859 from the foul line, Embiid joined Hall of Famer Larry Bird as only players in NBA history to average at least 28 points and 10 rebounds while shooting at least 50-percent from the field, 85-percent from the line and 37-percent from beyond the arc.
This season, Embiid joined Shaquille O’Neal and David Robinson as the only players in NBA history to average over 24 points and 11 rebounds within their first 260 games.
He also became just the 13th player in league history to score over 1,450 points, grab at least 530 rebounds and dish out at least 145 assists in 51 games.
Embiid helped lead Philadelphia to the best record in the Eastern Conference at 49-23 (.681), clinching the top seed in the East for the first time since 2000-01, while boasting the conference’s best defensive rating. The 76ers defeated the Washington Wizards, 4-1, in the first round of the 2021 NBA Playoffs and are currently tied 2-2 with the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
So far this postseason, Embiid is averaging a team-leading 27.4 points per game, along with 9.9 rebounds, while shooting .523 from the field. In Game 4 of the Atlanta series, Embiid collected a playoff career-high 21 rebounds, becoming the first 76er with a 20-rebound playoff game since Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo in 2001.
The voting results for the 2020-21 All-NBA Team are below. The balloting was tabulated by the independent accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP. Complete ballots for each voter will be posted at PR.NBA.com after the announcement of all end-of-season awards.