CLEVELAND, OH – The NBA announced today that Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James has been named to the 2015-16 All-NBA First Team. James led all Eastern Conference players with 637 points, receiving 125 First Team votes. This marks James’ 12th time being selected to an All-NBA team, including his 10th First Team honor (2006, 2008-2016) and ninth straight. The only players in league history with more First Team selections are Kobe Bryant (11) and Karl Malone (11). The All-NBA Teams were chosen by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. The media voted for All-NBA First, Second and Third Teams by position with points awarded on a 5-3-1 basis.
This past season, James appeared in 76 games (all starts), averaging an Eastern Conference-best 25.3 points (fifth in NBA) on .520 shooting from the field (14th in NBA), 7.4 rebounds, 6.8 assists (ninth in NBA) and 1.4 steals in 35.6 minutes per game. It was James’ 12th consecutive season averaging at least 25.0 points, which is a new NBA record (previous was 11 straight seasons by Karl Malone from 1987-88 to 1997-98 and Jerry West from 1961-62 to 1971-72). The 2015-16 season was also his league-record 12th straight season averaging at least 25.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists.
James, who was the only player in 2015-16 to shoot .500 from the field or better with averages of at least 25.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists, was an NBA All-Star starter for the 12th straight season, while earning the Kia NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month a league-best three times in 2015-16 (February, March and April), as well as the Player of the Week award an NBA-high tying five times (weeks ending Nov. 22, Jan. 10, March 6, March 27 and April 3). The four-time MVP scored in double figures in all 76 games, increasing his consecutive double-digit scoring streak to 717 (third-longest streak in NBA history). In addition to scoring in double figures every game he appeared in, James had 63 games of at least 20 points and 18 games of at least 30 points. He also registered 28 double-doubles and three triple-doubles.
After concluding his 13th NBA season with 26,833 career points, James climbed all the way up to No. 11 on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, passing Oscar Robertson (26,710), Dominique Wilkins (26,668), Tim Duncan (26,496), John Havlicek (26,395), Paul Pierce (26,316), Kevin Garnett (26,071), Alex English (25,613), Reggie Miller (25,279) and Jerry West (25,192) this past season. He also moved up to 18th place in assists (6,815), joining Oscar Robertson (9,887) as the only players in NBA history to rank in the Top 20 in both points and assists.
During the regular season, the Cavaliers had the best record in the East for the third time in franchise history at 57-25, which includes a 33-8 mark at Quicken Loans Arena. Cleveland, who currently holds the best record in the 2016 Playoffs (11-2), became the first Eastern Conference team in NBA history to open a postseason with 10 straight wins, joining the Los Angeles Lakers (1989, 2001) and San Antonio Spurs (2012).
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