NBA All-Defense Teams for 2025–26 Season: Victor Wembanyama, Rudy Gobert Headline This Year’s Defensive Honors

On Friday night, the NBA announced this year’s All-Defense team.

An annual exercise to reward the 10 best defenders in the league every year, the two All-Defense teams for this season are littered with recognizable names. Unanimous Defensive Player of the Year Victor Wembanyama, of course, earned a spot on the first team of this year’s All-Defense honors—the second of his young career after he became the first rookie in NBA history to take one of the five coveted first-team spots in 2023–24. The two runner-ups to the DPOY award, Ausar Thompson and Chet Holmgren, had tremendous seasons on that end of the ball in their own rights and were rewarded accordingly with first-team slots.

They headline the ‘25–26 All-Defense teams. The full rosters can be found below.

NBA All-Defense teams for 2025–26

First team

Player	Team	# of All-Defense honors
Victor Wembanyama	San Antonio Spurs	2
Ausar Thompson	Detroit Pistons	1
Chet Holmgren	Oklahoma City Thunder	1
Rudy Gobert	Minnesota Timberwolves	9
Derrick White	Boston Celtics	3

Wembanyama was a shoo-in for first team this year after winning DPOY. He led the NBA with 3.1 blocks per game and staked his claim as the best defender on the planet, a title he’s unlikely to give up anytime soon.

Thompson and Holmgren both earn their first All-Defense selections after finishing behind Wemby in DPOY voting. Holmgren was the best rim protector in the NBA outside of San Antonio for the Thunder, while Thompson took a big step forward as a true game-changer on that end in his third season; while these are regular season honors his playoff performance for the Pistons perfectly illustrated why he belonged on this year’s first team.

Gobert took one of the final two All-Defense spots thanks to another season of tremendous paint protection. His greatness should not be taken for granted—with one more All-Defense nod, he’ll be come only the seventh player in league history to earn 10 selections. Michael Jordan only had nine.

Finally, White’s outstanding season in Boston didn’t go overlooked. His first-team case was less iron-clad than the other names but he was, by far, the best shot-blocking guard in the NBA (again) as well as an elite perimeter presence.

Second team

Player	Team	# of All-Defense honors
Scottie Barnes	Toronto Raptors	1
Cason Wallace	Oklahoma City Thunder	1
Bam Adebayo	Miami Heat	6
OG Anunoby	New York Knicks	2
Dyson Daniels	Atlanta Hawks	2

Five great defenders make up the second team, and all had reasonable cases to be included in the first team.

Barnes was a true terror for Toronto this season with 2.9 combined steals and blocks per game. Wallace is OKC’s perimeter representative this season and led the NBA in total steals with 150 in 77 games. That is one more than Daniels, his fellow second-team All-Defense member who followed up a breakout defensive campaign last year with another great one in ‘25–‘26.

Finally, the two veterans of the list are Adebayo and Anunoby. The Heat center once again played great two-way ball all year; Friday night was a good one for him as Adebayo was also named the NBA’s Social Justice Champion for the season. Anunoby has long been seen as one of the stickiest perimeter defenders the league has to offer but this was a particularly strong campaign, as evidenced by him earning a few DPOY votes.

Full All-Defense team voting for this season

After the All-Defense teams were announced, the NBA revealed how the voting shook out. As always the panel consisted of 100 media members and there weren’t any big surprises.

Most notably, however, Spurs guard Stephon Castle and Rockets star Amen Thompson both barely missed out on All-Defense honors this year. They both finished with 46 points, just a handful shy of Daniels, who earned the final second-team spot with 50. Everyone is extremely deserving but that will be painful for Castle and Thompson to see.

Players who received exactly one vote: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (he has enough awards) and Jabari Smith Jr. in Houston.

A global media panel of 100 voters selected the 2025-26 Kia NBA All-Defensive Team.

The complete voting results ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/nzi2CGhq3T
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 22, 2026

Who was on last year’s All-Defense teams?

The biggest (literally) name to earn this year’s All-Defense honors was conspicuously absent last season; Wembanyama was ineligible for end-of-season awards due to a blood clot that cut his season short. But there were plenty of notable names.

Last year’s first team featured: Cleveland’s Evan Mobley (who won DPOY), Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels, Oklahoma City’s Lu Dort, Golden State’s Draymond Green and Houston’s Amen Thompson.

Last year’s second team featured: Portland’s Toumani Camara, Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert, former Grizzlies turned Jazz star Jaren Jackson Jr. and former Clippers turned Pacers center Ivica Zubac.

Do All-Defense teams impact contracts?

No, they do not. Earning an All-Defense spot is a great honor on its own. With only 10 spots it’s fierce competition and to be recognized as one of the very best defenders in a league more talented than ever is an amazing accomplishment.

However, it doesn’t have financial implications the same way All-NBA teams do. If a player is named to an All-NBA team they could be eligible for a supermax contract should they meet other criteria. But All-Defense doesn’t apply. Good agents will still wield an All-Defense nomination as a negotiating tool (Thompson’s certainly should in contract talks with the Pistons this offseason) but only winning DPOY, MVP or earning an All-NBA spot can lead to a max contract.

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