The 2025 All-Dubin Teams: My favorite non-star players to watch this season

With just a few weeks left in the regular season, it’s time to start really digging into the season-long awards. Of course, there are still a few weeks left in the regular season, so we can’t make a full determination just yet. That wouldn’t be fair.

What I can do, though, is reveal this season’s version of the All-Dubin Teams, featuring my favorite non-star players to play this season. If you need a refresher, here’s last year’s version.

As a reminder, there are two criteria: The first is that I really, really enjoyed watching these guys play this season. The second is that they were not All-Stars and they more than likely won’t be in the mix for any of the individual season-long awards.1

There’s no strict playing-time minimum to be considered for an All-Dubin Team, but I do weigh minutes played as part of my calculation. So someone like Chet Holmgren, who was one of my favorite players to watch when he was actually on the floor, gets left off in favor of players I had the privilege of watching more often.

Unlike last year, we’re going position-less for the All-Dubin Teams this season, to match the All-NBA voting. We’re doing this because my first team is almost entirely comprised of wings and I didn’t want to change that. I make the rules, so that’s what we’re doing.

Without further ado…

First Team

• Aaron Wiggins
• Amen Thompson (co-captain; 🥈 All-Dubin)
• Ausar Thompson (co-captain)
• Santi Aldama
• Toumani Camara

The five-year, $45 million, descending contract Wiggins signed last summer might be the most team-friendly deal in the league. If you haven’t been keyed into his development this season, you’re missing out. He emerged in last year’s playoffs as maybe OKC’s best option to be the fifth guy on the floor with SGA, J-Dub, Chet, and Dort, and he’s only gotten better. He’s been a legitimate third scorer at times, and has flashed the ability to be more than that in the games where the Thunder rest their guys. And when they have everybody, he’s still a flexible, multi-position defender who is also a knock-down 39% three-point shooter. Just a delightful player.

The Thompson twins might be my favorite players in the league right now. They are absolutely ferocious. The way these two guys move around the court almost seems unfair. They’re like hulking monsters that have the speed of cheetahs and the reaction time of … I don’t know, something that has a reaction time of zero point zero seconds.

Try dribbling against Ausar. I dare you. You will not have a good time. His defensive highlight reel for the season could be a 10 minutes long without including any steals or blocks. Try a layup without making 10000% sure to protect the ball while Amen is nearby. You will get your shit stuffed so quickly. He is a playmaker of the highest order. And this is just on defense!

Amen is basically a point guard at this point, and is going to be an elite passer when he’s fully developed. His jumper is still mostly non-existent, but mostly is a pretty big improvement from last season, when it was entirely non-existent. Ausar is a bit behind as an offensive player and will likely never have as high a ceiling as his brother, but he’s turned himself into a useful cutter and rebounder and is just as much of a terror in transition as is Amen. I could not possibly adore these guys more.

I wrote about Aldama’s development early this season, and the only thing that’s really changed since then is that he has actually knocked down his threes at a 37.6% clip for the season as a whole. (That’s a career high, by the way.)

I just really like the way Aldama’s all-around game has developed over the years. He gets better every season. His ability to work off the dribble, whether to find his own shot or to create a passing lane, has improved so much since he got into the league.

He’s shooting 51.5% after two or more dribbles this season, up from just 43.1% last year. And he looks more comfortable than ever navigating space inside the arc to find those looks for himself.

This is a guy who, in his first extended action two years ago, had an assist rate of 7.6%. That jumped to to 13.3% last year and is now up at 16.6%, which means it has more than doubled over the last two seasons.

He came into the league splitting time between playing the 4 and the 5 but the Grizz have occasionally played him at the 3 this year. And that's despite the fact that he hasn't shot it well from three yet. That should give you an idea of how confident they've gotten in his ability to do everything else. Just a really fun player.

He’s going to get paid this summer, and he’s going to deserve it. I think that was at least part of the motivation for the Grizz trading Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia — to clear the salary cap room for Aldama’s next contract this summer. If Memphis lets him get away, some other team is going to be very happy with its investment.

The Blazers stealing Camara in what used to be known as the Deandre Ayton trade but will eventually become known as the Toumani Camara trade will go down as an all-time heist. Hot damn can this dude defend. ( has been banging this particular drum about defensive stops all year.)

He kind of reminds me of Tayshaun Prince with his arms that are about 47 feet long. (His wingspan is actually 7-foot-1 but still.) He should absolutely be heavily in the mix for an All-Defensive team, and if there were separate awards for bigs and perimeter players, he’d have a pretty decent case for a spot on a DPOY ballot. Oh, and he’s improved as both a shooter (over 37% from deep) and passer (nearly 2.5 assists per 36 minutes) this season, which is obviously important when it comes to keeping himself on the court as his career moves forward. He’s nowhere close to a zero on offense. Terrific role player.

Second Team

• Deni Avdija
• Isaiah Hartenstein (🥈 All-Dubin)
• Ivica Zubac
• Kyshawn George
• Luke Kornet

I wrote last week about Avdija’s growth as an on-the-ball creator, which has been exciting to watch. He's been unassisted on more than half his two-point baskets for the first time in his career, and he's still shooting 54% from two — exactly in line with his career-long mark. He's also gotten to the line more often than ever, and maintained the growth as a passer that he showed last season. Along with Camara, he is the best reason to watch the Blazers on a night-to-night basis.

Hartenstein is to the Thunder what Aaron Gordon was to the Nuggets and Kristaps Porzingis was to the Celtics. I really believe that. He is THE perfect role player who does every single thing they needed to take the team to the next level. There’s a reason OKC is 45-6 in games that he’s played. FORTY-FIVE AND SIX! That’s a 72-win pace. His facility in dribble hand-offs, short rolls, and as an offensive rebounder is so important. It changes both the floor and ceiling of the Thunder’s offense. And the rebounding on defense makes them a totally different team. This was one of the worst rebounding teams of all time a year ago. They’re now essentially league average in both offensive and defensive rebounding. It’s not entirely because of Hartenstein, but it’s not not entirely because of Hartenstein, either. He is just such a good player, doing absolutely every single one of the little things at such a high level that he makes them into big things.

Your man Zu has been so much fun this year. His stepping into a larger role offensively has been key in the Clippers being able to withstand the loss of Paul George and play much of the season without Kawhi Leonard. His hook shot is a thing of beauty. His pick-and-roll chemistry with James Harden is wonderful. His defense has been an underratedly huge component of the Clippers’ top-five point prevention unit. Among 50 players challenging at least 4 shots per game at the rim, he’s 15th in field goal percentage allowed, per NBA Advanced Stats. And he’s doing that while challenging the eighth-most shots per game. Impressive stuff.

I’m biased, but the work George has done over the second half of the season since becoming a full-time starter has been terrific, despite the fact that he’s still not really making shots. I wrote recently about his defensive playmaking, and it’s terrific — especially considering his athletic limitations. But that’s also not all he’s been. He’s a well-rounded player who knows where to be and what to do, and I am a sucker for that type of guy. He’s also just been super productive in his time on the floor.

Since the merger, only 16 rookies have averaged at least 11 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block per 36 minutes. Almost all of them have become very good NBA players. Chris Webber, Nikola Jokic, Vince Carter, Mychal Thompson, Amen Thompson, Victor Wembanyama, Robert Horry, Lamar Odom, Scottie Pippen, Alperen Sengun, Danny Schayes, and DeMarcus Cousins are all on this list. The three guys who didn't amount to much were Lionel Simmons, Phil Pressey, and Harry Giles; but Simmons was a good player for a few years before falling off, and Giles was obviously affected by major injuries.

I thought did a nice job highlighting how impactful and important Kornet has been for the Celtics this season. There’s something to be said for knowing your limitations and sticking to the stuff you do well, which is exactly what Kornet’s done since arriving in Boston.A backup center who cleans the glass, makes almost all of his shots, sets killer screens, and generally just makes the right play is a really valuable player. Kornet has been that this season, and in a larger role than at any previous point in his career.

Third Team

• Cam Johnson
• Kris Dunn
• Onyeka Okongwu
• Quentin Grimes
• Zach LaVine

Everyone thought Cam Johnson would be traded this season. Probably including Cam Johnson. Instead, he has been forced to ply his trade with the Nets all year. And he’s done yeoman’s work all year. Pressed into being something like a No. 1 offensive option, Johnson's responded with the most efficient scoring season of his career. He's also assisted on — by far — a career-high share of teammate baskets while on the floor (17.6%), gotten to the line more than ever, and still managed to hit over 39% of his treys despite being more tightly guarded than ever. (The average closest defender on his threes has been a career-low 6.1 feet away from him, per Second Spectrum, and he’s been “heavily contested” a career-high 60.3% of the time.) It would have been cool if he got traded to a real contender, and maybe that’ll still happen this coming offseason. But he’s been plenty good and plenty fun to watch in Brooklyn.

Dunn might just be the best perimeter defender in the NBA. You can’t get by him off the bounce. His arms are so long and his feet are so quick that he just makes it damn near impossible. The Clippers allow 7 fewer points per 100 possessions on drives with Dunn in the game than without him, per Second Spectrum, and that’s not an accident.

It took almost five years, but Okongwu finally stole the starting center job from Clint Capela, and he has run away with it since taking over. He's averaged 14.7 points, 10 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1 block per night. He's expanding his shooting range and is launching 2 threes per game. He's shooting better than 64% on his twos. We need him to step up his game as a rim protector and pick-and-roll defender, but he’s at least fun to watch in the early stages of his work as the starter. He’s also still just 24 years old. It typically takes big men a while before they truly become defensive anchors. Just because others have done it right away doesn’t mean Okongwu can’t get there eventually.

Grimes might have made this list even if he had just kept doing what he was doing in Dallas. He got back to being the player he was with his early days with the Knicks.

Grimes is having a renaissance season in Dallas after getting lost in the Knicks’ rotation last year and then continuing to struggle upon being traded to Detroit. (The Mavericks stole him from the Pistons in the Tim Hardaway Jr. salary-dump, somehow.) He’s shooting a career-best 40.4% from deep, and he's also up to a career-high 3.4 assists per 36 minutes.

His ability to beat closeouts with a quick dribble and dish is a huge reason why.

This is what he looked like in his first couple of NBA seasons, and if he keeps doing this throughout the rest of the year, he’s going to earn himself a nice payday in restricted free agency this summer. (He should stay in Dallas. He could not possibly find a better player to work with than Luka Doncic.)

The full-scale breakout he’s experienced in Philly is probably not indicative of the player he’s going to be — or should be — throughout the rest of his career, but the fact that he has it in him is obviously a highly encouraging sign. He is going to get PAID paid this summer now, whether by the Sixers or somebody else. If he can synthesize the player he was and the player he’s been for the last month, he’s going to be well worth it.

LaVine has one of the most aesthetically pleasing games in the NBA, and seeing him get back to something resembling full strength has been a joy. The smooth shooting off the catch and off the dribble, the manipulation through and around screens, the effortless lift-offs… it’s all been there in spades. It was there at a higher level in Chicago than it has been since he was traded to the Kings, but the bounceback season in general, for a player who was thought to be toxic enough that he could never be moved, has been great to see.