With the NBA regular season winding down and post-season play beginning next week, it’s time to announce my picks for this season’s major awards. First, it’s important to remember that as part of its collective bargaining agreement, the NBA requires a player to appear in a minimum of 65 games to be eligible for most of these awards. This was done in the hopes of curbing load management and ensuring that stars are on the court more often. As an added incentive, many stars have significant contract incentives or bonuses tied to winning certain awards. The bottom line is that NBA tickets are expensive and, barring injury, the fans deserve to see the stars play.
It’s an understatement to say that the 65-game requirement has become a lightning rod issue and recently created headlines as it became clear that two of the leading candidates for this year’s MVP award, Luka Doncic of the Lakers and Cade Cunningham of the Pistons, will almost certainly fall short of the minimum game requirement. Based on news reports it appears that both players intend to file an appeal with the league office to get an exception to the 65-game requirement. So, what’s the ultimate solution – my take is the NBA should adopt the same standard they use to determine league leaders in the major statistical categories – a player must appear in 70% of his team’s games, so for an 82-game season, the requirement would be 58. This would avoid the absurdity of the current situation. Luka Doncic will be the NBA scoring champion but he’s not eligible to be the MVP or make an All-NBA team. Without further ado……here are this year’s winners.
MVP – Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets)
Like last year, many NBA pundits are lobbying for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Thunder to be the MVP, based on the argument that he’s the best player on the best team. While certainly SGA has had a great season and is a worthy candidate, along with Victor Wembanyama of the Spurs, the Joker is the clear-cut choice. He is unquestionably the best player in the league (world) who is having another career year – a remarkable achievement given that he’s a 3-time MVP winner. Jokic will average a triple double for the second consecutive season and will become the first player in NBA history to lead the league in both assists and rebounding in the same season, while also averaging nearly 28 ppg, good for 7th in the league. He also leads the NBA in on/off metrics with a +14.9 net rating. He has arguably had the greatest statistical season in NBA history. Sorry Wolves fans, it looks like Minnesota is on a collision course to face the Joker and the Nuggets in the first round of this year’s playoffs.
All-NBA
1st Team
Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets)
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder)
Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs)
Jaylen Brown (Boston Celtics)
Kawhi Leonard (Los Angeles Clippers)
2nd Team
Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland Cavaliers)
Jalen Johnson (Atlanta Hawks)
Jalen Brunson (New York Knicks)
Tyrese Maxey (Philadelphia 76ers)
Kevin Durant (Houston Rockets)
3rd Team
Jamal Murray (Denver Nuggets)
Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns)
Jalen Duren (Detroit Pistons)
Deni Avdija (Portland Trailblazers)
Chet Holmgren (Oklahoma City Thunder)
Didn’t-Play-65-Games Team
Luka Doncic (Los Angeles Lakers)
Cade Cunningham (Detroit Pistons)
Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves)
Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks)
Steph Curry (Golden State Warriors)
(Would likely be heavy favorites against virtually any other 5 players in the NBA. Talk about fire power: Cunningham 24.5 ppg, Curry 27.3 ppg, Antetokounmpo 27.6 ppg, Edwards 28.9 ppg, and Doncic 33.5 ppg. Clearly the NBA needs to address the 65-game issue.)
Rookie of the Year – Cooper Flagg (Dallas Mavericks)
While his former Duke teammate, Kon Knueppel, has had a strong rookie season, Flagg is finishing with a flurry and should be Rookie of the Year. In his past 10 games, he is averaging 26.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.8 steals, and 1.3 blocks. Flagg leads all rookies in scoring at more than 21 ppg and is the first teenager ever to score 50 or more points in a game. He is the only player in the league (yes, that includes the Joker, SGA, and Wemby) to lead his team in scoring, rebounding, assists, and steals. He is well on his way to becoming an All-NBA player and a near certain lock to be a member of the 2028 U.S. Olympic basketball team.
All-Rookie
1st Team
Cooper Flagg (Dallas Mavericks)
Kon Knueppel (Charlotte Hornets)
VJ Edgecombe (Philadelphia 76ers)
Cedric Coward (Memphis Grizzlies)
Dylan Harper (San Antonio Spurs)
2nd Team
Maxime Raynaud (Sacramento Kings)
Derik Queen (New Orleans Pelicans)
Ace Bailey (Utah Jazz)
Jeremiah Fears (New Orleans Pelicans)
Ryan Kalkbrenner (Charlotte Hornets)
Defensive Player of the Year – Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs)
Wembanyama should be a unanimous choice for this award and will own it for the next decade if he stays healthy. While he leads the league in blocked shots at nearly 4 per game, that doesn’t even begin to capture the extent to which he is a game-changing presence on the defensive end. His freakish size and athleticism literally shrink the floor for opposing teams – he is a disruptive force at all three levels – the paint, mid-range, and 3-point line. The Defensive Player of the Year award is currently named after Rockets legend, Hakeem Olajuwon but it won’t be long before the NBA is forced to rename it after Wemby, who is a truly unique, generational talent.
All-Defense
1st Team
Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs)
Cason Wallace (Oklahoma City Thunder)
Derrick White (Boston Celtics)
Dyson Daniels (Atlanta Hawks)
Evan Mobley (Cleveland Cavaliers)
2nd Team
Rudy Gobert (Minnesota Timberwolves)
Chet Holmgren (Oklahoma City Thunder)
Scottie Barnes (Toronto Raptors)
Ausar Thompson (Detroit Pistons)
Amen Thompson (Houston Rockets)
(Those 1v1 matchups in the driveway growing up must have been legendary in the Thompson household.)
Most Improved Player – Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Atlanta Hawks)
This is painful for Wolves fans but there is little doubt that NAW deserves this award. He has developed into an All-Star caliber player in his first season with the Hawks. He continues to be an elite perimeter defender and has established career highs in virtually every offensive category. He is averaging nearly 21 ppg (more than double his average from last season) and ranks 5th in the NBA in both free throw shooting (90%) and 3-point field goals made (237). While hindsight is 20/20 this will likely go down as the biggest mistake in Tim Connelly’s tenure as the Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations. Simply put, letting Alexander-Walker go was a NAWful decision. The Wolves opted instead to retain and resign both Julius Randle and Naz Reid (two players who play the same position) to contracts significantly larger than the one NAW got from the Hawks. The likely thinking at the time was that TJ Shannon could fill the hole created by NAW’s departure but that hasn’t happened due in part to injuries that have limited his availability as well as an apparent lack of confidence from Head Coach Chris Finch. For a team that must get through a Western Conference that features elite perimeter scorers like SGA, Doncic, Durant, Curry, Booker, Murray, and Fox it didn’t make sense to let go of an elite defender (and an ever-improving offensive player) in the prime of his career. NAW’s story is reminiscent of Chauncey Billups, he had been underwhelming at several stops then joined the Wolves when he was 24 years old, put together two solid seasons and then the Wolves chose not to resign him. A big mistake, of course, as he helped lead the Pistons to an NBA title as part of his Hall of Fame career. To his credit, Connelly has a chance to redeem himself with the acquisition of Ayo Dosunmu from the Bulls at the trade deadline. He has been impressive in his brief time with the Wolves but guess what, he will be a free agent this summer. Just one fan’s opinion but I wouldn’t let him get away.
6th Man of the Year – Keldon Johnson (San Antonio Spurs)
One of the rare 6th Man of the Year candidates that actually has not started a single game. He leads the bench brigade for one of the league’s best teams, averaging 13.0 ppg and 5.3 rpg while shooting 52% from the floor. This is tremendous production given he plays just 23 minutes a game.
Clutch Player of the Year – Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves)
This is one of the awards that doesn’t have the 65-game requirement, so Ant is eligible to win. While SGA is the betting favorite for this award as he leads the NBA in total clutch time points (editor’s note: this didn’t seem to matter last year when Ant led the league in total clutch time points, yet Jalen Brunson won the award). Ant should get the nod this year because he is the most efficient clutch scorer in the NBA ranking #1 in points per possession at 1.29 and #1 in effective field goal percentage at 63.7%. In addition, I would challenge anyone to do a side-by-side comparison of Ant’s best clutch shots and those of SGA and it will be evident that Ant also wins the “eye test.” He’s hit seemingly impossible shots while frequently double or triple teamed.
(As a reminder, NBA clutch time is defined as the final 5 minutes of the 4th quarter or any overtime period where the score is within 5 points.)
Coach of the Year – J.B. Bickerstaff (Detroit Pistons)
This is a no-brainer, the former Gopher basketball captain has led the Pistons to the best record in the Eastern Conference, including an impressive 13-5 record without their injured star Cade Cunningham. Under his leadership, the Pistons have established a strong defensive identity and a fast-paced, unselfish offense. As an added benefit he coached the winning Stars team during All-Star weekend, led by the “clutch” performance of MVP Anthony Edwards.
About the Author
As Hoop Habits’ media contributor, Roger Johnson brings decades of basketball expertise to his articles. Having served as a marketing executive at Wells Fargo & Company and a content writer for Ultimate Hoops, Roger’s true passion has always been basketball. With experience as a collegiate player at Moorhead State University, coach, and parent of successful players, Roger offers unique insights into the game. His dedication shows through his Minnesota Timberwolves season tickets, University of Minnesota basketball support, and attendance at over 3,000 basketball games throughout his lifetime.