Former NBA Champion Says Laker's Luka Doncic Doesn't Deserve All-NBA First Team Spot

The All-NBA teams are out, and while most people agree on the top names, one selection has a Hall of Famer with a different opinion. Paul Pierce thinks the voters got it wrong, but not everyone will see it that way.

The 2008 NBA champion with the Boston Celtics appeared on the NFG Show and said he would have bumped Luka Doncic off the All-NBA First Team in favor of Jaylen Brown. The clip was shared by NBA Courtside on X on May 25.

Pierce did not dismiss Doncic's season outright. Luka led the league in scoring at 33.5 points per game, and Pierce acknowledged that. But he pointed to the supporting cast around him, specifically LeBron James being available all year and Austin Reaves for most of it.

"I know that's saying a lot because Luka did lead the league in scoring, but he had more to work with, too. Think about it. He had LeBron all year. You got Reaves, you know, a lot of most of the year. Jaylen Brown, he did the most with the least out of all these guys that's on this and maybe Cade Cunningham. I mean, you know, but Jaylen Brown didn't have a second All-Star. A lot of these guys did. You know what I'm saying? So, I would have probably removed Luka for Jaylen."

Paul Pierce says Jaylen Brown should have been first team All-NBA over Luka Doncic:

“I know that’s saying a lot because Luka did lead the league in scoring, but he had more to work with, too. Think about it. He had LeBron all year. You got Reaves, you know, a lot of most of the… pic.twitter.com/YB1s3vTPJ3
— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) May 25, 2026

Why Paul Pierce Thinks Jaylen Brown Deserved All-NBA First Team Over Luka Doncic

Pierce's case rests on Brown doing more with less. With Jayson Tatum out for the entire season due to an Achilles injury, Brown carried Boston alongside Derrick White and Anfernee Simons, averaging 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game.

Most of the other First Team players had a second All-Star to share the load. Doncic had LeBron. Cade Cunningham had Jalen Duren. Pierce felt Brown having neither of those things should have counted for more in the voting.

It is also worth remembering what Doncic looked like just weeks before the injury. In March alone, he scored exactly 600 points, averaging 37.5 points per game for the month, which was only the third time any player had reached 600 points in a single month since the 1977 merger. The Lakers went 15-2 that month, their best record in a single month since the 1999-2000 championship team.

Worth noting is that Doncic suffered a Grade 2 hamstring strain on April 2, missed the final five regular season games, and sat out the entire postseason as the Lakers got swept by Oklahoma City in the second round. Even with all of that, 91 out of 100 voters still put him on the First Team, which says a lot about how his regular season was viewed.

Brown ended up on the All-NBA Second Team with 44 first-team votes, just behind Cunningham's 60. Doncic collected 91 first-team votes and his sixth career First Team selection. Pierce makes a fair point about context, but the voters have spoken, and both players will have a case to make again when next season rolls around.

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