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Fans Erupt After Derrick White Makes First-Team All-Defense Over Scottie Barnes

· Yahoo Sports

The NBA dropped its 2025-26 All-Defensive teams Friday, and while most of the headline names were expected, one selection quickly sparked debate.

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Victor Wembanyama led the First Team, earning a perfect 100 votes alongside Chet Holmgren, Rudy Gobert, Ausar Thompson, and Derrick White. The Second Team featured Bam Adebayo, Cason Wallace, OG Anunoby, Dyson Daniels, and Scottie Barnes.

Wembanyama also made history, becoming the first player ever to receive unanimous First Team All-Defense honors. The announcement came just before his Spurs faced Holmgren’s Thunder in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.

But within minutes, the conversation had shifted away from celebration and toward one question: How did Derrick White land on the First Team and not Scottie Barnes?

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Fans online were quick to call out the Raptors-sized elephant in the room.

“WHY IS SCOTTIE BARNES SNUBBED FROM HERE,” one user wrote.

“How is Derrick white on there?” another commented.

“The Scottie Barnes disrespect is insane…,” another replied.

“Scottie Barnes not being on there, is like leaving Pippen or Kawhi off of 1st Team All D,” one other fan wrote.

“Derrick White 😭 reputation gets you anywhere,” another added.

“Scottie for DWhite and it’s perfect,” another commented.

“Wow Scottie Barnes actually got robbed of a spot here,” one other fan replied.

“‘Derrick White’ man I’m fuming,” another posted.

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Scottie Barnes #4 of the Toronto Raptors reacts during the second quarter of Game Five of the Eastern Conference First Round NBA Playoffs against the Cleveland Cavaliersat Rocket Arena on April 29, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)

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White had another elite defensive season with the Boston Celtics. He remained arguably the NBA’s premier shot-blocking perimeter defender, averaging 1.1 steals and 1.3 blocks per game, making him the only guard in the league to average more than one block per game.

He held opponents to 56.4% shooting at the rim, ranking 17th in the NBA and first among non-big men (minimum 200 shots contested), while finishing fifth in Defensive Win Shares, trailing only Wembanyama, Holmgren, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Ajay Mitchell.

White appeared in 77 games, posted a 113.1 defensive rating, and helped anchor Boston’s fourth-ranked defense (111.7 defensive rating), earning Eastern Conference Defensive Player of the Month honors for February.

He was also one of only two players in the NBA to average at least 1.1 steals and 1.3 blocks per game.

The other?

Scottie Barnes.

The Toronto Raptors‘ Swiss Army knife defender put together one of the most complete two-way defensive seasons in basketball.

Across 80 games, Barnes averaged 18.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.5 blocks per game, outproducing White across the board while shouldering responsibilities White simply didn’t have to carry in Boston.

He defended guards, wings, power forwards, and small-ball centers. He switched everything. And he posted a 110.1 defensive rating, the sixth-best mark in the NBA and notably stronger than White’s. 

Barnes was named Eastern Conference Defensive Player of the Month in November, and analysts spent much of the season pointing to him as one of the few defenders in the league capable of impacting every layer of the floor.

He generated steals without gambling, blocked shots without living in the paint, and did all of it while serving as Toronto’s primary playmaker on offense.

The deeper you go, the harder it becomes to justify Barnes on the Second Team.

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