NBA All-Defensive Team History, Selection Rules, and the Pre-1973 Record
When the NBA introduced its All-Defensive teams for the 1968–69 season, official game sheets tracked neither blocked shots nor steals. League stat keepers did not record those two defensive categories until the 1973–74 schedule got underway. That same year, the league also initiated weekly published leaderboards for both metrics.
Because of that five-year gap, the annual First Team and Second Team rosters provide the primary systematic evidence of individual defensive standing across the late 1960s and early 1970s. When box scores offered no record of deflections or rim protection, end-of-year honors filled the vacuum.
Shifting Ballots from Head Coaches to the Media
The selection mechanism has undergone fundamental structural revisions since its inception. From the 1968–69 inaugural year through the 2013–14 season, NBA head coaches held exclusive control over the ballots. That coach-driven process concluded when the league transferred voting duties to a media contingent starting in 2014.
Under the current setup, a panel of 100 global media members selects the NBA All-Defensive Team. The accounting system operates on a direct point scale. Each voter picks five players for the First Team and five players for the Second Team. Every First Team selection earns a player two points, while each Second Team selection adds one point to their ledger.
Once the league tallies the 100 ballots, the five players who amass the highest point totals form the First Team. The players finishing with the sixth through tenth highest scores populate the Second Team. The league presents these annual selections as its formal recognition of the top defenders across the entire association.
Positionless Frameworks and Historical Ballot Rules
Ballot geometry has changed alongside the voter pool. In the announcement for the 2025–26 NBA All-Defensive Team, the league stated that media panel members submitted their selections regardless of position. Voters no longer have to balance a lineup with two backcourt members, two frontcourt players, and a traditional center. They simply submit their top ten overall defenders.
The positional guidelines of the coach-voting era remain less clear in historical documentation. Archival records from 1968–69 through 2013–14 contain conflicting accounts on whether head coaches were mandated to vote by designated positions or were granted open ballots. Historical records also do not document whether early coaches were barred from selecting their own players, nor do they record the exact turnout of head coaches submitting ballots in every early season.
What the nba all defensive team history selection record does verify is that the division into distinct First and Second Teams has remained unbroken from the 1968–69 season to the modern day.
The 1973–74 Line and the Early Box-Score Void
Evaluating individual defense prior to the 1973–74 season presents unique archival challenges. For the NBA’s early years, standard box scores captured points, rebounds, assists, field goals, free throws, and personal fouls. A center swatting away five shots at the rim or a guard stripping an opponent in transition generated zero statistical footprint in the official box score.
That environment changed when the league began officially recording blocked shots and steals in 1973–74. For the first time, regular-season leaderboards tracked defensive output alongside scoring and rebounding averages.
For the five seasons between 1968–69 and 1972–73, the All-Defensive selections serve as the league's only recurring, organized documentation of elite defensive contributors. While modern analysts can look at per-game block totals from 1974 onward, defenders from the late 1960s and early 1970s left behind only their team honors and contemporary reputations.
Weighing Annual Selections Against Missing Numbers
Because the All-Defensive teams represent the outcome of a vote, they measure contemporary consensus rather than absolute performance. A coach filling out a ballot in 1970 weighed opponent tendencies, film study, and direct in-game matchups. The 100-member media panel of the modern era assesses tracking data, full-season broadcasts, and analytical metrics.
These lists confirm which players earned the highest defensive esteem among coaches and media members in a given season. They do not measure possession-level efficiency, shot suppression, or the exact volume of turnovers generated.
For players active in the five years before 1973–74, these rosters represent the most structured evidence available. The selections capture how coaches viewed their peers, offering a lasting historical record that exists separate from the missing box-score numbers.
Written and checked by the DatabaseBasketball editorial desk.
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