Timberwolves' Towns, Butler named to All-NBA third team
Minnesota Timberwolves' Karl-Anthony Towns and Jimmy Butler were named to the All-NBA third team, the league announced Thursday.
Towns is not new to earning accolades in the NBA, but it is his first time seeing All-NBA recognition. He played in all 82 games for the third straight season and averaged 21.3 points, 12.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 42.1 percent from the 3-point line.
Butler, on the other hand, was named to the All-NBA third team for the second straight year. He was also named to the All-NBA defensive team earlier this week, receiving that honor for the fourth time in his seven-year career. The 28-year-old averaged 22.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2.0 steals per game in 59 contests last season.
Stephen Curry, Victor Oladipo and Paul George joined the two Timberwolves on the third team. LeBron James, James Harden, Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard and Kevin Durant were named to the All-NBA first team, while Giannis Antetokounmpo, Russell Westbrook, Joel Embiid, LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan earned second-team honors.
Only two other franchises had multiple players named to the All-NBA team: Golden State (Durant, Curry) and Oklahoma City (Westbrook, George). It's the first time in franchise history that multiple Timberwolves were named to the All-NBA team since Kevin Garnett and Sam Cassell did so in 2003-04.
Towns collected one first-team vote, eight second-team votes and 52 third-team votes. Butler received four second-team votes and 42 third-team votes.
