My picks for the 2023-24 All-Defense teams
Breaking down all the contenders for the All-Defense teams — and highlighting all of the league's best defenders.
We’ve done the All-Rookie teams. Now it’s time to dive into the All-Defense teams.
It’s a little tougher this year, as any candidate has to meet the required 65-game limit. The teams are also technically positionless — so voters could fill the teams with ten centers if they’re so inclined. In order to appropriately honor the league’s best defenders, I’m going to select players by position anyway. Rim-protecting centers may be the most valuable defenders in the game, but perimeter stoppers are crucial too. Just ask the Milwaukee Bucks.
So I’m approaching these All-Defense teams as teams of five players that could realistically play together. No lineups of five seven-footers.
All-Defense First Team
G: Alex Caruso (Chicago Bulls)
G: Jalen Suggs (Orlando Magic)
F: Herb Jones (New Orleans Pelicans)
F: Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs)
C: Rudy Gobert (Minnesota Timberwolves)
Caruso and Suggs play a similar style of hounding perimeter defense. They slide through screens and tirelessly chase shooters — with no regard for their own physical well-being.
The Bulls, like last year, would be nowhere without Caruso. They’re six points better defensively per 100 possessions when he’s on the court. He averages more than a steal and a block per game, and leads the league in deflections. He’s been relatively healthy all year, despite his nightly workload as the Bulls’ defensive savior. He often guards way up in position — including taking the primary assignment on Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kawhi Leonard.
Suggs is the tone-setter for the elite Magic defense. He has the quickness and mobility to pick up elite guards in the back-court without getting blown by. He never takes a play off and handles tough assignments for big minutes.
The snarling intensity he plays with is contagious. He’s under the skin of everybody he guards, and he stays active off the ball — bounding into passing lanes and soaring to intercept cross-court passes.
Jones might be the single best perimeter defender in the NBA. Consider that the Pelicans, a playoff team with a good defense, have only one above-average defender in their starting lineup. That’s Jones, whose defensive ubiquity covers a lot of gaps. His stretchy arms are everywhere, denying pocket passes when his man runs a pick and roll and closing out ferociously to shooters.
Players of all sizes wilt under Jones’s ball-pressure. The Pelicans can use him as an off-ball predator, too — putting him on a less threatening scorer and unleashing him as a help defender in the passing lanes.
The final two, Wembanyama and Gobert, are no-brainers, and will likely be the two top candidates for Defensive Player of the Year. I’ll cover those two more deeply when we get to that award.
All-Defense Second Team
G: Derrick White (Boston Celtics)
F: Jaden McDaniels (Minnesota Timberwolves)
F: Kawhi Leonard (LA Clippers)
C: Chet Holmgren (OKC Thunder)
C: Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat)
Apologies to a couple of excellent centers who have great cases to be here — Brook Lopez and Isaiah Hartenstein.
White is only one of the Celtics’ absurd collection of elite defenders. You could make a great case for Jrue Holiday and his positional versatility, unlocking Joe Mazzula’s complex schemes. Jaylen Brown has a real case, too — he’s taken on some of the toughest assignments and battled on a nightly basis. You could go with anyone.
I went with White because of his disruptiveness and his uncanny ability to protect the rim. Like Holiday and Brown, White is great at containing stars on the perimeter. But he also gets steals and deflections at a high rate, and he’s more active contesting shots from behind — crucial for a team that often plays deep drop coverage with Kristaps Porzingis.
White is the league’s best rim-protecting guard. Opponents convert just 57% of their shots at the rim when White contests the shot — an elite number, better than many seven-footers. He also leads all of the league’s guards in the amount of shots he contests at the rim. He’s there all the time, and always makes an impact.
McDaniels, who I wrote about in January, is the unsung hero of the Timberwolves’ historically great defense. He is great at dictating the terms of engagement, funneling players where he wants them to go — directly into the arms of Gobert. He rarely gets cleanly beat, and often recovers to affect shots even when he does. He has a knack for sliding with big men in pick-and-rolls, taking away easy lobs and bounce passes.
I don’t think Leonard will be a consensus pick — though I’d like to be proven wrong. He’s still one of the best defenders in the NBA, and in crucial moments throughout the season, he’s handled the assignment on the best players in the league. Like old times, he shuts those guys down, denying them the ball and sliding in front of them, a cinderblock with octopus arms.
While Leonard is not quite the rangy destroyer of his Defensive Player of the Year heyday, he still snatches steals at a high rate and reads plays before they happen. On a small Clippers team, he often battles taller, bigger players — including Zion Williamson and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Consider his on-off numbers. The Clippers are nine points better defensively when Leonard is on the court. There’s always noise with those types of numbers, but there is something happening there.
Holmgren is the main reason that the Thunder have one of the league’s best defenses. He contests a ton of shots at the rim (third-most) and opponents make just 52% of those shots. He’s rangy on the perimeter and can play a variety of coverages, and he has a knack for switching out to the three-point line, then getting back to the rim to disrupt a shot. His only flaw is rebounding, though due to OKC’s size, it’s often a one-man effort.
Adebayo remains one of the league’s very best defenders, with a high motor and unbelievable switchability. Nobody can beat him one on one. He’s the guy you want in the playoffs, which matters here. But his regular season impact isn’t quite as high as Wembanyama and Gobert, primarily because of his switching. He doesn’t contest as many shots at the rim as other elite rim protectors, and teams make a point of pulling him out of the paint.
(Imaginary) All-Defense Third-Team
G: Luguentz Dort (OKC Thunder)
G: Jaylen Brown (Boston Celtics)
F: Aaron Gordon (Denver Nuggets)
C: Brook Lopez (Milwaukee Bucks)
C: Isaiah Hartenstein (New York Knicks)
Dort guards the best players for the fierce Thunder defense, getting into the jersey of everybody. In OKC’s frantic, help-heavy scheme, Dort’s ability to close out to shooters without getting blown by is an underrated weapon.
Brown, as mentioned, has handled tough assignments all year for Boston.
There might be no better isolation defender than Gordon. He’s impossible to bully, and he also slides his feet really well to stay in front of quicker guys. The Nuggets play hard-nosed, sophisticated defense, and Gordon is a massive reason for that.
Lopez remains one of the league’s better rim protectors, boasting his usual elite rim defense numbers. The chaotic Bucks have needed him amid defensive dropoffs from everybody surrounding him — including Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis.
Hartenstein might be the league’s most improved defender. He’s turned into a dominant drop coverage center for the Knicks’ physical, hounding defense, holding strong with two hands in the air as opponents crash fruitlessly into him at the basket.
Honorable mentions
Guards: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Nuggets) rarely makes mistakes, shadows great players, and constantly jumps the passing lanes; Jrue Holiday (Celtics) isn’t quite as dominant, but he has guarded Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid as a primary assignment; Miles McBride (Knicks) tirelessly chases star guards all over the court, and slides through screens at an elite level; Isaac Okoro (Cavaliers) can stay in front of anybody.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Anthony Edwards (Timberwolves) are elite options against star players for league-best Minnesota; Dyson Daniels and Jose Alvarado (Pelicans) are all over the place; Kris Dunn (Jazz) blows up offensive plays; Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder) is a menace off the ball, ripping away loose dribbles and stealing any entry pass you dare throw into the post.
Forwards: Kevin Durant (Suns) has shouldered a huge load for the tiny Suns, guarding big wings and often centers to hide Jusuf Nurkic; Jalen Williams (Thunder) might be the league’s most underrated defender, guarding power forwards and sliding to stay in front of ball-handlers; Peyton Watson (Nuggets) is a high-flying secondary rim protector with great instincts for blocking shots; Dillon Brooks (Rockets) is rock solid and, as always, provocative.
Jayson Tatum (Celtics) doesn’t usually guard the opponent’s best player, but he is lockdown when he does (including against SGA in one fourth quarter) and he grabs every rebound; Josh Hart (Knicks) plays inhuman minutes and still flies around all the time; Naz Reid (Wolves) is one of the better defensive power forwards in the league; Paul George (Clippers) is, per usual, excellent.
Jonathan Isaac (Magic) deserves his own section, and really, his own article.
Centers: Anthony Davis (Lakers) is elite in drop coverage and was my first cut; Jarrett Allen (Cavaliers) is a big reason that the Cavs’ defense is so consistent; Ivica Zubac (Clippers) is underrated; Draymond Green (Warriors) hasn’t played enough games, but he sees everything and, like old times, props up Golden State’s defense by himself.
Nicolas Claxton (Nets) is part of the malaise of Brooklyn, but he can switch onto anyone. Jaren Jackson Jr. (Grizzlies) isn’t as good as he was last year, but he’s still elite.