Bam Adebayo, Cason Wallace named to NBA All-Defensive Teams

A pair of former Wildcats have been recognized as two of the best defenders in basketball.

On Friday night ahead of Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals, the Miami Heat’s Bam Adebayo and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Cason Wallace were both named to the 2025-26 NBA All-Defensive Second Team. This was Adebayo’s sixth time making an All-Defensive Team and Wallace’s first.

Adebayo, 28, also finished 11th in Defensive Player of the Year voting in what was his ninth NBA season. In 73 games for the Heat, he averaged 20.1 points, 10 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.7 blocks in 32.4 minutes per outing. This was his first All-Defensive Team nod since the 2023-24 season, when he came in third in DPOY voting — still the best finish of his career thus far. Defense is his game, but he also famously scored 83 points in a single game earlier this season, second-most in league history.

Wallace, 22, is in only his third NBA season, but he finished ahead of Adebayo in this season’s DPOY voting, coming in seventh. He averaged 8.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.9 steals, and 0.4 blocks in 26.6 minutes per outing across 77 games played for the Thunder. Wallace won’t have much time to celebrate, though — his Thunder team is looking to break a 1-1 series tie with the San Antonio Spurs during Friday night’s WCF Game 3.

The 2025-26 Kia NBA All-Defensive Second Team:

▪️ Bam Adebayo, @MiamiHEAT
▪️ OG Anunoby, @nyknicks
▪️ Scottie Barnes, @Raptors
▪️ Dyson Daniels, @ATLHawks
▪️ Cason Wallace, @okcthunder pic.twitter.com/03kDcuEFLZ

— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 22, 2026

Only one other former Wildcat received an All-Defensive Team vote: back-to-back MVP (and teammate of Wallace) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who tallied a whipping one Second-Team vote. Below are the complete All-Defensive Teams. The Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama was previously named this season’s Defensive Player of the Year.

All-Defensive First Team:

• Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs
• Chet Holmgren, Oklahoma City Thunder
• Ausar Thompson, Detroit Pistons
• Rudy Gobert, Minnesota Timberwolves
• Derrick White, Boston Celtics

All-Defensive Second Team:

• Scottie Barnes, Toronto Raptors
• Cason Wallace, Oklahoma City Thunder
• Bam Adebayo, Miami Heat
• OG Anunoby, New York Knicks
• Dyson Daniels, Atlanta Hawks

Additionally, Adebayo was also named the 2025-26 NBA Social Justice Champion and will receive the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Trophy. The league will also donate $100,000 to the Bam, Books & Brotherhood Foundation. Adebayo joins Karl-Anthony Towns (2023-24) as the former Kentucky players to win this award.

“Adebayo was selected from a group of five finalists for helping promote social justice and advancing Abdul-Jabbar’s life mission to engage, empower and drive equality for communities that have been historically disadvantaged and under-resourced,” reads the NBA’s press release.

According to the league, Adebayo led 18 social justice-and impact-focused initiatives, investing more than half a million dollars in programs designed to expand access and opportunity for youth and families. He did all of that in just the 2025-26 season. He’s also helped provide mattresses, uniforms, and school supplies for students at The SEED School of Miami.

Both on and off the court, former Wildcats continue to make the Big Blue Nation proud.