For the second time in three days, a Spurs player has won a major award. After Victor Wembanyama was named the 2025/26 Defensive Player of the Year on Monday, Keldon Johnson has earned Sixth Man of the Year honors, the NBA announced today (Twitter link).
Coming off the bench in all 82 games for the 62-20 Spurs, Johnson averaged 13.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 23.3 minutes per game, posting a shooting line of .519/.363/.794. According to the league (Twitter link), he set a single-season franchise record by scoring 1,081 bench points, surpassing the mark previously set by Manu Ginobili, the only other Sixth Man of the Year winner in Spurs history.
Johnson epitomized the sixth man role by becoming the only NBA player in 2025/26 who appeared in all 82 games without making a single start, per the team.
Johnson earned 63 first-place votes and showed up on 96 out of 100 total ballots, accumulating 404 total points to beat out Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Nuggets wing Tim Hardaway Jr., his fellow finalists. They finished second and third in the voting, respectively, with Jaquez receiving 34 first-place votes and 331 points, while Hardaway was a distant third (no first-place votes, 45 points).
In 75 games for the Heat, including 74 as a reserve, Jaquez averaged 15.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 4.7 assists in 28.3 minutes per game, making 50.7% of his shots from the floor.
It’s fair to wonder how big an impact the delay in award voting had on the Sixth Man of the Year race. Because a handful of stars appealed to be ruled award-eligible despite not meeting the 65-game criteria, the NBA needed a little extra time to make decisions on those cases. Ballots weren’t sent out until last Thursday and and had to be submitted by Friday evening.
By that time, the Heat had been eliminated in a play-in game that Jaquez didn’t play especially well in (he made 5-of-14 field goal attempts). That prompted at least one voter – Bill Simmons of The Ringer – to admit that he changed his vote from Jaquez to Johnson, despite the fact that Sixth Man is a regular season award.
Outside of the three finalists, nine more players received at least one vote. Timberwolves big man Naz Reid (42 points) and Thunder wing Ajay Mitchell (29) rounded out the top five, while Rockets guard Reed Sheppard (28) was the only other player to show up on more than three ballots.
Pistons big man Isaiah Stewart, Knicks center Mitchell Robinson, Timberwolves guard Ayo Dosunmu, Raptors forward/center Sandro Mamukelashvili, Spurs guard Dylan Harper, and Raptors guard Jamal Shead also earned votes. The full results can be viewed here (Twitter link).
Should have been Jaquez Jr winning imo
Bronny Jr>giannis bros
Thanasis đ
neither are better than Euro Nepo Baby.. the greatest of all time.. ZORAN DRAGIC!!!
Keldon should be starting somewhere. He is more than ready. A long SG can avg 20 a gm.
He started for three seasons, so readiness isnât the issue. Like Manu GinĂłbili, heâs more effective coming off the bench, a hustle and energy player.
Heâs not Manu. He was younger before. He should be playing 32 mins a game and scoring. He has positional size at SG. Has one yr on his contract. They donât trade him next yr he is walking.
Congrats Keldon đđ
I would start him next year and have Vassel be the sixth man with Champagnie
You’re right, He’s no Manu There’s only one GinĂ”bli. They’re both had positional size and are/were high energy hustle players. That where any comparison ends though. Manu was a better scorer, shooter and playmaker.
He previously started when he was younger. If he was ready to start then he’s ready now. It’s just that he’s better playing against second units.
Manu never avg 20 a game. Keldon did it his fourth yr at 23 yrs old. Basically avg 20 for three yrs. He was replaced by Vassel as the starter. A better defender. Why are you bringing up Manu. They are a generation away. You may not like Keldon. I do. I guarantee he is leaving next yr. Cause he can start. His shooting splits are actually a little better than Manus. And he doesnât get steady mins. His contract is up soon. You will see.
He definitely should be starting. He outplays Vassel who starts with that huge contract
Nice and well deserved.
It seems the voters valued winning over stats. Jaquez had a better individual year imo.
I wouldâve done Jaquez but how did Ayo dosunmo not get more consideration despite having great shooting numbers
Too much time playing for that horrible bulls squad
Someone explain to me.. like I’m a child…. how player A) has 13.5 / 5.4 / 1.4, yet is considered better than player B) with 15.4 / 5.0 / 4.7 ……..
Again… explain it to me like I’m a child…
I AM SICK AND TIRED OF NBA ANTI MIAMI BIAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Before anyone jumps on my “anti Miami bias” point……
– Erik Spoelstra is the best basketball coach in the world…. he’s never won COY
– Bam Adebayo is one of the 20 best players in the NBA…. hasn’t been an All-Star since 2023
– Jimmy Butler was only an All-Star 2 of the 6 years he was in Miami
– Pat Riley was only named COY once while coach of the Heat
– Shaq lost the MVP in 2004-05 to Steve Nash…. LAUGHABLY after taking a .500 team to game 7 of the ECF (which they would have won if he wasn’t injured)
– Dwyane Wade was never even considered for MVP a single year of his career (his highest vote was 3rd, in a season he was head and shoulders over everyone else in the league, including Kobe and Lebron (08-09… look it up)
– Tyler Herro had a 20-5-4 season as a 6th man… AND PEOPLE STILL SAID HE DIDN’T DESERVE THE AWARD
Every year, it’s as if anyone associated with the Miami has a “yea but….” attached to their name….. the only person not to have that bias against them was Lebron James.. and even then he lost an MVP to Derrick Rose that made no damn sense either.
You’re right, Steve Nash shouldn’t have been MVP in 04-05. It should’ve been Dirk Nowitzki or Kevin Garnett.
The heat went from a 42-40 team.. to a 59 win team…. with an arguably lesser roster (depth wise)… SHAQ WAS THE DIFFERENCE.. it was the last year Shaq was “Shaq” too.. even when they won it all a year later he was maybe 60% of his former self
The Mavs “only” won 58 games and the 2nd best talent on the team after Nowitzki was Michael Finley while Shaq had Wade who was a top 10 player himself. Wade jumping from 16 points per game to 24 while becoming All-NBA and All-Defense had just as much of an impact on the Heat going from 42 wins to 59 as Shaq did.
Made no sense? Did LeBron play with Bogans? Did he play with Ronnie Brewer? Did he play with no HOFs on that team? If anything it should have been D12, because thatâs who my MVP was that year.
IDK about the rest of your post but voter fatigued set in for LBJ that year. Thatâs what happened in 2010-11. Plus LBJ decision probably rubbed a lot of media folks the wrong way as he made it into a spectacle.
Keith Bogans didn’t do anything wrong
Lebron James in 2010-11… 27-8-7…… Derrick Rose in 2010-11… 25-4-8 …. Outside of the Heat’s big three their next best players were Eddie House, Udonis Haslem, Big Z, and a baby version of Mario Chalmers… THE HEAT THEN CRUSHED THE BULLS IN 5 GAMES IN THE PLAYOFFS TO PUT THE ICING ON THE CAKE…. admitting he didn’t win because of where he played and “voter fatigue” is the exact “yea but….” I AM TALKING ABOUT IN THIS POST lol… the decision is part of the anti miami bias…. the rest of it is Pat Riley quitting the Knicks in 1994
No doubt Riley quit on Knicks but it was more than that. He wanted full control and power and Dolan refused to give it to him. I remember vividly NY Post had an article in the 95 season saying âpat the ratâ lol. Plus Riley was always a pretty boy he was never made for NY, only LA and Miami.
also pretty sure that bulls team had Boozer, Noah, Deng, and Kyle Korver all in their primes… the heat wouldn’t be that deep untl ray allen and rashard lewis joined them 2 years later
Are any of them HOF? I donât think so lol. You act like the Heat were poverty without LBJ lol. Wade was the 2nd best SG in the league at the time. Bosh was a double double machine. Haslem gave them toughness and rebounding. Youâre not going to win this one lol. I usually like your posts and read them but this isnât it lol.
we’re both biased… but when one team was starting joel anthony and eddie house… and their bench was so bad they had to trade for an insanely washed Mike Bibby (who cost them more games than he helped) vs. a team that had a core of all-stars and had insane depth? Come on…. the heat were very top heavy in 2010-11… the bulls were deep. The Heat just had a much better coach lol
Don’t discredit Eddie House like that, he was actually serviceable lol. Joel Anthony was hilarious. Memories my guy lol
Eddie was great… for about 20% of the time lol
I just looked it up.. I was wrong.. Eddie wasn’t the starter…. CARLOS ARROYO WAS haha…. thank god Chalmers matured into the decent player he was after that season…. for context the heat only had 3 players average over 10ppg that season…. the next highest was Mike Bibby… with 7ppg