CLEVELAND -- Despite his team being one game away from elimination, LeBron James made some history on Thursday when he was selected to the All-NBA First Team for a record 12th time.
The Cleveland Cavaliers superstar was a unanimous selection, joining Houston Rockets guard James Harden, Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant and New Orleans Pelicans forward-center Anthony Davis on this year's team. The honor marks the 12th first-team selection -- and his 11th straight -- as he passes Karl Malone and Kobe Bryant for the most in NBA history.
Appearing in all 82 regular season games for the first time in his career, the 33-year-old James averaged 27.5 points, 9.1 assists and 8.6 rebounds while playing a league-high 36.9 minutes per game.
Earlier this month, James was named one of three finalists -- alongside Harden and Davis -- for the NBA Most Valuable Player Award, which will be presented at the NBA Awards show on June 25. At that point, James could either be coming off an eighth straight NBA Finals appearance or already be in the midst of his summer vacation; trailing the Boston Celtics three games to two in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals, James' Cavs find themselves on the brink of elimination heading into their Game 6 matchup on Friday.
The 2017-18 All-NBA teams were as follows:
First-team
- James Harden, G, Houston Rockets
- LeBron James, F, Cleveland Cavaliers
- Anthony Davis, C-F, New Orleans Pelicans
- Damian Lillard, G, Portland Trail Blazers
- Kevin Durant, F, Golden State Warriors
Second-team
- Giannis Antetokounmpo, F, Milwaukee Bucks
- Russell Westbrook, G, Oklahoma City Thunder
- Joel Embiid, C, Philadelphia 76ers
- LaMarcus Aldridge, F-C, San Antonio Spurs
- DeMar DeRozan, G, Toronto Raptors
Third-team
- Stephen Curry, G, Golden State Warriors
- Victor Oladipo, G, Indiana Pacers
- Karl Anthony-Towns, C-F, Minnesota Timberwolves
- Jimmy Butler, F/G, Minnesota Timberwolves
- Paul George, F, Oklahoma City Thunder