Tim Bontemps
Tuesday afternoon, I opened my official NBA awards ballot and voted for my selections for all of the league’s top individual honors: the seven major end-of-season awards (Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Most Improved Player and Clutch Player of the Year), plus the All-NBA, All-Defense and All-Rookie teams.
Here’s what that ballot looked like and how each pick was made (with a shoutout to the great Matt “Stats” Williams for all of the information we could want for our ballots).
Most Valuable Player
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
Just about every season, there are several deserving MVP candidates. And this year’s race truly went down to the final day between Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic, the league’s two best players, both of whom have put together unbelievable seasons.
The Thunder, behind Gilgeous-Alexander’s league-leading 32.7 points per game while shooting 51.9% from the field, became the seventh team in NBA history to win at least 68 games. Jokic, of course, had a historic statistical season, finishing in the top three in points (29.6), rebounds (12.7) and assists (10.2) while shooting 57.6% overall and 41.7% from 3-point range. Truly video game stuff.
Ironically, while going back-and-forth between Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic over the past several weeks, this quote from since-fired Nuggets coach Michael Malone has been weighing on my mind. “If you didn’t know Nikola had won three MVPs, and I put Player A and Player B on paper … he wins 10 times out of 10,” Malone said last month.
“And if you don’t think so, you guys are full of s—.”
Malone’s position was totally defensible. But to win a fourth MVP award in five years — something only LeBron James and Bill Russell have done — Jokic was going to have to do something extraordinary. And he has.
But if the race is a toss-up, like virtually every person I’ve talked to in the media and among players, coaches and executives believes it is, the edge should go to the leader of arguably the most dominant regular-season team in NBA history.
The Thunder set the record for point differential, outscoring opponents by over 1,000 points, and by 12.7 points per 100 possessions. They stacked 68 wins in a season in which Chet Holmgren missed 50 games and summer acquisitions Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso both missed significant chunks.
The Nuggets were nearly 20 points better with Jokic on the court. But while Oklahoma City obviously has more talent than Denver does around Jokic, the Thunder were still 11.5 points per 100 possessions worse when Gilgeous-Alexander sat. And without its engine, the NBA’s No. 1 offense turns into one that would rank 22nd leaguewide.
As for the rest of the ballot, Antetokounmpo was an easy pick in the third spot, and this will be a seventh straight season he has been inside the top four. There was a time when you could argue Tatum should be third, but Antetokounmpo’s closing kick over the past couple months — particularly after Milwaukee lost Damian Lillard to a blood clot issue in his calf — pushed him ahead of Tatum.
There was a massive gap between Tatum and a host of players who merited consideration for the fifth spot, with the choice ultimately coming down to Brunson and Donovan Mitchell. In the end, Brunson gets the fifth spot for his clutch-time heroics, which may lead to some other hardware for the Knicks captain.
Defensive Player of the Year
Ivica Zubac, LA Clippers
Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers
Jaren Jackson Jr., Memphis Grizzlies
Through the All-Star break, the only debate about DPOY was who would finish second to Victor Wembanyama. But once the San Antonio Spurs phenom was lost for the season because of his deep vein thrombosis diagnosis, it broke open the race, with several players — the three listed, plus Rudy Gobert, Draymond Green, Dyson Daniels, Amen Thompson and Luguentz Dort — all likely to get votes and perhaps all of them getting at least one first-place selection.
It ended up being a discussion between Zubac and Mobley. The Clippers have been one of the best defensive teams in the league, ranking third in defensive rating. Zubac has been in the middle of all of it, allowing the lowest shot quality as the contesting defender among players contesting at least 700 shots this season, per GenuisIQ tracking data. Mobley, on the other hand, might be the league’s most versatile defender. He’s the only player to defend guards, forwards and centers for at least 900 half-court matchups this season, providing the kind of Swiss Army knife teams covet in today’s pace-and-space dominated game.
Ultimately, the edge went to Zubac. He played nine more games and an extra 500 minutes than Mobley. And his massive presence in the paint powered the Clippers to that top-five defensive rating, which was just enough to surpass the Cavs’ All-Star big man.
Like Mobley, Jackson’s versatility is his biggest calling card, with Memphis’ defense being more than four points per 100 worse with him on the bench. Jackson is the only player besides Mobley to defend guards, forwards and centers each for at least 800 possessions this season while being the only player to have at least 75 steals and 100 blocks.
Coach of the Year
Kenny Atkinson, Cleveland Cavaliers
J.B. Bickerstaff, Detroit Pistons
Ime Udoka, Houston Rockets
The top two names have been in place for weeks, but I flip-flopped on them repeatedly since mid-March. The Pistons more than tripling their win total since last season is a remarkable accomplishment, and Bickerstaff has done a fantastic job getting defensive buy-in from his young roster.
But the hardest jump to make in the NBA — for both player and team — is not going from awful to good; it’s going from good to great. The Cavaliers went from a team that was expected to be in the mix for home-court advantage in the first round to having home court throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs, winning 64 games and seeing massive improvement from players across the roster.
The other two coaches who merit first-place votes are Udoka — he guided a team I thought would be fighting for a play-in spot to the second seed in the Western Conference — and LA Clippers coach Tyronn Lue. The Clippers have flown under the radar all season, but Lue has done a remarkable job with this group while once again dealing with uncertainty surrounding Kawhi Leonard’s availability. Lue should get votes for this award, and it was painful leaving him off the ballot.
Rookie of the Year
Zaccharie Risacher, Atlanta Hawks
Stephon Castle, San Antonio Spurs
Jaylen Wells, Memphis Grizzlies
Let’s just say this year’s race isn’t like last year’s, when Wembanyama and Holmgren were both hugely impactful as rookies and would have both been runaway winners for the award in just about any season over the past 20 years.
This season’s choice boiled down to Castle, who has taken on a bigger individual role in San Antonio, or Risacher, who has carved an effective role on a team competing for a playoff spot. I went with the latter, as Risacher — the top pick in last year’s draft — has averaged 14 points and shot 50% from the field and 40% from 3-point range since Jan. 1.
Wells, a second-round pick who became a starter for another playoff hopeful in the Memphis Grizzlies, checked in third. (Speaking of Wells, it was good to see he was OK after an incredibly scary fall that saw him suffer a season-ending broken wrist last week against the Charlotte Hornets.)
Most Improved Player
Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers
Ivica Zubac, LA Clippers
Austin Reaves, Los Angeles Lakers
Frankly, I wish this award didn’t exist. Back in 1986, when the NBA retired the Comeback Player of the Year award, then-deputy commissioner Russ Granik said, “We phased it out because it became very difficult to determine with any kind of clarity exactly what the requirements were.”
I would argue the same applies to this award. What constitutes the most improvement? What matters the most? It’s always an award that a dozen players can make a case for, and it has tended to default, as Lakers coach JJ Redick said recently, to young, highly drafted players who make a leap.
That is how the top of my ballot has played out this season, with Mobley getting the top spot. Going from little to no All-Star buzz last year to an All-NBA pick this season makes him worthy of the honor.
Zubac has had a remarkable season at both ends for the Clippers, seeing massive jumps in virtually every category — including, most importantly, minutes per game, as he’s been asked to take on a significantly bigger load and has done so with aplomb. Reaves, meanwhile, has not only shined after Luka Doncic arrived with the Lakers, but he has been a massive reason for the Lakers’ second-half surge to the West’s third seed.
Sixth Man of the Year
Payton Pritchard, Boston Celtics
Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Minnesota Timberwolves
Malik Beasley, Detroit Pistons
This was one of the easiest decisions on the ballot. Pritchard has been, at worst, the third-most consistent player on the Celtics (behind Tatum and Derrick White), giving this team terrific energy and production off the bench. As a 40% 3-point shooter on nearly eight attempts per game, he has repeatedly sparked Boston wins throughout the year and has been my clear Sixth Man leader for months.
The last two spots could go in a few directions, with Alexander-Walker, Beasley and two Cavaliers — De’Andre Hunter and Ty Jerome — being the final contenders. Hunter has arguably had his best season, first with the Atlanta Hawks and now the Cavaliers after a midseason trade. Hunter has cleaned up his shot profile and scored a career-high 17 points per game.
Jerome, on the other hand, is one of the best stories across the entire league, going from missing virtually all of last season because of injuries to averaging 12.5 points on 51.6% shooting overall and 43.6% from 3.
But my votes for second and third went elsewhere. Alexander-Walker has been an unsung hero for Minnesota as a two-way weapon able to operate on and off the ball as the Timberwolves dealt with injuries to Donte DiVincenzo and Mike Conley during the year. Alexander-Walker shot 38.1% from deep and has been a good defender who can close games.
My third spot went to Beasley, who is seventh in the league with more than nine attempts per game, and at 41.6% he’s the only player inside the top 20 in attempts to also shoot 40% for the season. Beasley’s career year has played a major role in Detroit’s surge.
Clutch Player of the Year
Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks
While I considered putting LeBron James on here, these three guys were the pretty clear choices for me, and in this order. Brunson’s 5.6 points per game in the clutch this season are the third most in a season in the past 25 years for players who played in at least 20 clutch games, and he consistently was pulling out close games for New York while sporting the league’s highest usage rate in the clutch.
Jokic, like in just about any other situation, excelled here, ranking inside the top five in clutch points and assists, while Young led in total points and assists in the fourth quarter and was the first player in almost 30 years (since John Stockton in 1997) to have at least 200 fourth-quarter assists in a season.
All-NBA, All-Defense and All-Rookie teams
All-NBA First Team
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
All-NBA Second Team
All-NBA Third Team
I gave my reasoning behind my first-team All-NBA ballot at the top of this piece when I filled out my MVP ballot, so we’ll move on to the rest of the ballot here.
We’ve spent enough time talking about Mobley, too, whose terrific season made him an easy choice alongside Mitchell. The fact we are talking about LeBron, as the league’s oldest player, and Stephen Curry, as one of 13 players in the league over 37, as top-10 players in the league at this stage of their careers is remarkable.
The final second-team spot, after some deliberation, went to Edwards, a two-way force whose remarkable improvement as a 3-point shooter — he made a league-high 320 triples on more than 39% shooting — could be a game-breaking development as his young career progresses.
If there was any doubt about whether Harden deserves to be an All-NBA selection this season, his performance Sunday — 39 points and 10 assists on 13-for-23 shooting, including scoring 12 of LA’s 13 overtime points in the playoff-clinching win over Golden State — showed how essential he’s been to the Clippers. Cunningham’s breakthrough season in Detroit made him an easy pick for a spot here, with the same being said for Towns in his first season as a Knick and Williams for the league-leading Thunder.
That left one final spot, for which I debated four players: Haliburton, Jackson, Zubac and Darius Garland. The latter two both had great seasons, but the choice came down to a Haliburton and Jackson. The Pacers had a slow start with a second-half surge; Memphis was the opposite. In the end, Jackson’s two-way play — and being more consistent during the season — made him the choice over Haliburton.
All-Defense First Team
Dyson Daniels, Atlanta Hawks
Amen Thompson, Houston Rockets
Ivica Zubac, LA Clippers
Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers
Jaren Jackson Jr., Memphis Grizzlies
Three of these names here were on my DPOY ballot. As for the other two spots, I included two backcourt-type players and three frontcourt-type players, as was the format before the league made All-Defensive selections positionless in 2023-24.
Daniels had the most steals in a season in a generation, while Thompson, an incredible defensive weapon who can guard just about any position, showed his on-ball prowess by helping Houston hold Stephen Curry to just three points in a matchup last week.
All-Defense Second Team
Derrick White, Boston Celtics
Jalen Williams, Oklahoma City Thunder
Luguentz Dort, Oklahoma City Thunder
Rudy Gobert, Minnesota Timberwolves
Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors
Gobert and Green were easy choices, as they both remain excellent defenders into their mid-30s. Dort, meanwhile, consistently takes the top assignments for Oklahoma City and should earn his first All-Defense selection.
That left three players for two spots: White, Williams and Portland Trail Blazers wing Toumani Camara, who has become an elite stopper in his second NBA season. I opted to reward Williams and White, two versatile two-way players for teams with the best chances to reach the Finals.
All-Rookie First Team
After my Rookie of the Year top three, Ware and Edey round out my top five.
Ware nearly averaged a double-double on almost 55% shooting over the final 2½ months, while Edey provided a solid presence in the paint for Memphis all season long, despite playing just 21.5 minutes per game.
All-Rookie Second Team
Missi has been one of the more consistent players on the Pelicans all season, while Clingan was an impactful rookie center for Portland and averaged 10 rebounds and more than two blocks per game as a starter. Sarr still has a long way to go as a shooter but improved as the season went along and showed flashes of the player the Wizards hope he can be.
Dunn was a solid wing defender for the Suns whose long-term ceiling will be determined by his 3-point shot, which started off hot and waned considerably as the year progressed. With the final spot, I went with Buzelis, who is starting for Chicago and has shown flashes of elite two-way play during the Bulls’ 10-3 close to the season.
