National Basketball Association

CP3 named to NBA All-Defensive First Team for third straight season

Published Jun. 2, 2014 3:11 p.m. ET

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Clippers guard Chris Paul may have played a good chunk of last season with a shoulder injury, but it didn't hurt his defense one bit.

Paul, the Clippers' point guard and team leader, was voted to the NBA's all-defensive first team for a third consecutive year and fourth year overall. He is the only Clippers player in franchise history to be selected to the defensive team.

A separated right shoulder forced Paul to miss five weeks of the regular season, but he still led the league with an average of 2.48 steals per game. Paul has led the league in steals four years in a row and six times in the past seven seasons.

He was joined on the first team by Joakim Noah of the Chicago Bulls, Paul George of the Indiana Pacers, Serge Ibaka of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Andre Iguodala of the Golden State Warriors. Only Noah and George finished with more total votes than Paul in balloting by writers and broadcasters.

Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, who was third in defensive player of the year voting, just missed out making the all-defensive second team. He finished behind LeBron James of the Miami Heat, Patrick Beverley of the Houston Rockets, Jimmy Butler of the Chicago Bulls, Kawhi Leonard of the San Antonio Spurs and Roy Hibbert of the Pacers.

Hibbert beat out Jordan by 13 total points.