Spurs Notes: Game 2, Fox, K. Johnson, Wembanyama
The Spurs have remained calm since losing Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday, viewing it as one more bit of adversity that needs to be overcome on their way to a title, according to Michael C. Wright of ESPN. Victor Wembanyama said he isn’t “worried in the slightest” about how the team will respond when the series resumes tonight.
“We know we’re not here by chance,” Wembanyama said. “We’ve been through some weird, weird, situations [or] whatever. It’s reassuring to know that these guys, the 18 guys we’ve got, are built this way. [They] are resilient.”
Wright notes that the Spurs weren’t viewed as ready to be championship contenders when the season began, and there were worrisome injuries hanging over the team as it gathered for training camp. Wembanyama was returning from deep vein thrombosis that forced him to miss the final 36 games of last season, Dylan Harper just a few weeks removed from surgery to fix a partially torn ligament in his left thumb and De’Aaron Fox was uncertain for camp due to a lingering hamstring strain.
Even with the health questions and concerns over having so many young players in the rotation, general manager Brian Wright was a firm believer in the roster he assembled.
“When we were whole last year you saw flashes of it,” he said. “And the bulk of our group is incredibly young. The one thing you could bank on was improvement, whether that be Vic, Steph (Castle), as well as Keldon (Johnson) and Devin (Vassell). There’s Julian (Champagnie), too. They’re still growing. Just with the evolution of the guys we have and then someone of Fox’s caliber being here in the offseason, there’s a real chance we could match up and play with all the teams at the top of the league. Obviously, you’ve got to do the work. But we believe in the group we have.”
There’s more from San Antonio:
- As the veteran in the Spurs’ backcourt, Fox needs to have a better showing in Game 2, states Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports. Fox only had seven points in 38 minutes in the opener while shooting 3-of-13 from the field and missing his all attempts from outside the paint. “I’ve got to make shots,” he said. “Obviously I’m not shooting the ball as much. But coming here, I knew that was the way it was going to be. As a player, you sacrifice for the betterment of the team. There are times where I need to take shots or times where I don’t take as many shots, but at the end of the day, you need to make the shots that you take.”
- Game 1 was also a disappointment for Johnson, this season’s Sixth Man of the Year, who scored just three points in eight minutes, Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News writes in a subscriber-only story. Johnson promises that it won’t affect him for the rest of the series. “When you get in a series like this, once the game is over, you process it that night and then we come back and we break it down today,” he said. “And then you got to let it go. You can’t let it linger on to other games. You can’t get too high, you can’t get too low. You got to try and stay as even-keeled as possible. I’ll correct those mistakes and be back at it tomorrow.”
- Jared Weiss of The Athletic examines the marketing strategy to make Wembanyama the most popular athlete in the world, including his statement to Nike executives last year that “I’m not gonna give basketball a choice of who the face is going to be.”
Spurs Notes: Wembanyama, Kornet, Champagnie, K. Johnson
Victor Wembanyama was overcome with emotion when the Spurs defeated the defending champions on Saturday night to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014, writes Anthony Slater of ESPN.
“Winning the Larry O’Brien, it’s a childhood dream,” Wembanyama said. “Having a real shot at it, having a chance, tangible chance at winning it, realizing a dream. … The day we win it, speaking for myself, it’s going to be an amazing day of a realization of a dream. It’s hard to put into words. It’s almost like the meaning of my life.”
Former NBA guard and current NBC analyst Jamal Crawford told Jared Weiss of The Athletic he knew Wembanyama had a special ability to handle pressure and quickly learn new skills when he worked with him in the 2024 offseason. The French big man said learning how to channel his emotions has been one of the keys to his success, even if it’s an ongoing work in progress.
“This game is so hard, this team (Oklahoma City) is so good, that you gotta use every single emotion you got in you in order to win,” Wembanyama said on NBC’s post-game show. “Like, sometimes, these emotions (are) passion. It’s love for the game. Sometimes it’s anger. Sometimes it might even be jealousy, but I don’t wanna weigh myself down with any of these energies. I use them on the court.”
According to Weiss, Wembanyama has leaned on his teammates, coaches, franchise legends and his camp and family as he navigates his first postseason. The French big man “hugged every member of the Spurs organization he could find” after the final buzzer, and after he was awarded the Magic Johnson trophy for winning Western Conference finals MVP, he brought it over to Spurs fans to let them touch it and show his appreciation.
“I would say what I learned is I can go through hurdles that I didn’t know those hurdles could get so high,” Wembanyama said. “It’s just pushing through. I found resources inside of me, relentlessness. I already knew that, but doing it at this level, this is the best basketball on the planet that’s being played right now.
“The crazy thing is, maybe I’m crazy for that, but I want to do that 15, 20 more times,” Wembanyama said. “Let’s hope it doesn’t become an addiction. Maybe it is already.”
Here’s more on the Spurs:
- Wembanyama received plenty of help in Saturday’s Game 7 victory in Oklahoma City. De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper, Julian Champagnie and Keldon Johnson all delivered in key moments, but the Spurs say the biggest play of the game may have belonged to backup big man Luke Kornet, according to Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (subscriber link). With the Spurs up by six and about six-and-a-half minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Kornet had an epic chase-down block on Isaiah Hartenstein, who was going for a breakaway dunk after stealing Castle’s entry pass. “I’ve never seen Luke run that fast,” Champagnie said. “He was hauling, man, hauling.” As Orsborn notes, Castle made a pull-up jumper to put the Spurs up eight after the block then Champagnie hit a three-pointer to push the lead back up to 11. “That’s a momentum play. If they get that dunk, the crowd gets into it, guys start to feel good, and you never know what happens,” Champagnie continued. “Guys make some shots and instead of it being a six-point game it’s a two-point game, a whole different ball game. So shout out to Luke. I think that was the biggest play of the game. It took all the life out of the building. That play right there gave us the step we needed to keep the lead and keep pushing.”
- As Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports details, Champagnie struggled in the first four games against the Thunder but he delivered again with San Antonio’s season on the line, pouring in 20 points while making 6-of-10 from long distance, grabbing six rebounds and playing high-level defense. He was a game-high plus-16 in 38 minutes. “Julian is amazing,” Wembanyama said. “He deserves everything that he gets. And he’s the type of guy that makes you wanna die for him on the court because he gives so much effort. And he’s got such an amazing story — he got cut in the NBA a few years back. He’s had tough moments, but he keeps pushing and now he’s taken his team to the NBA Finals.”
- Johnson, the longest-tenured member of the team, has had a relatively quiet postseason after being named the league’s Sixth Man of the Year. However, after scoring eight points in the fourth quarter on Saturday, the 26-year-old said his confidence never wavered. “My teammates and my coaches continued to believe in me,” he said, per Orsborn (subscription required). “I continued to believe in myself. I knew the tide would turn eventually. I didn’t know when. I didn’t know how. But I knew that as long as I just stayed engaged, stayed locked in, it would pay off. I couldn’t write it any other way than how it went today. It’s been a hard playoffs for me. There’s no denying that, but it makes it all worth it when you have big moments like this in Game 7.”
Spurs Reach NBA Finals; Victor Wembanyama Named MVP Of WCF
The Spurs won a tough Game 7 at Oklahoma City on Saturday night to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014. The 111-103 victory sets up a matchup with the Knicks for the NBA championship, with Game 1 tipping off Wednesday night in San Antonio.
Victor Wembanyama was a unanimous choice as Most Valuable Player of the Western Conference Finals (Twitter links). He received the Earvin “Magic” Johnson trophy in a vote by nine media members.
Wembanyama played 42 minutes in Game 7, finishing with 22 points, seven rebounds and two assists, and he got plenty of help from his teammates.
De’Aaron Fox contributed 15 points, five assists and three steals and hit several big shots to stave off Thunder rallies. Julian Champagnie added 20 points with six three-pointers, Keldon Johnson sank two crucial threes in the fourth quarter and backup center Luke Kornet may have made the play of the game by blocking Isaiah Hartenstein on a breakaway (Twitter video link).
League MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 35 points, with many of them coming on difficult shots over multiple defenders. Cason Wallace added 17, but OKC couldn’t find much additional scoring with Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell both sidelined by injuries. Chet Holmgren had a particularly forgettable night, finishing with four points on just two shots from the field.
“They’re young, talented, well-coached, play the right way, seems like they like each other,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of the Spurs (Twitter link from Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic). “They have the make-up. You don’t beat us without the make-up.”
The victory not only gives the Spurs a shot at their first NBA title in 12 years, it may signify the start of a long-term shift in the balance of power. With the deepest roster in the league, the Thunder looked capable of stringing together a potential dynasty after winning 68 and 64 games the past two seasons. But San Antonio took down the defending champs with a younger core built around Wembanyama (22), Stephon Castle (21) and Dylan Harper (20).
This year’s series could also be the start of an extended high-stakes rivalry between the two franchises. The Thunder have the ability to bring back virtually their entire roster next season, but they also have a stockpile of draft picks if they want to chase a veteran star. Regardless of which path they choose, Oklahoma City and San Antonio figure to enter the 2026/27 season as heavy favorites to grab the top two seeds again and return to the Western Conference finals.
Wembanyama was overcome by emotion as the final seconds ticked away, and he spent several minutes hugging teammates and friends before heading to the locker room. Speaking at the post-game press conference, he made it clear that the Spurs’ mission isn’t complete, per Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.
“We want four more,” Wembanyama said. “We’re not done.”
Spurs Notes: Wembanyama, Harper, K. Johnson, M. Johnson
Victor Wembanyama realized that he lost his composure when he was ejected from Game 4 for knocking down Naz Reid with an elbow, so he didn’t let anything bother him when the series resumed Tuesday night, writes Jared Weiss of The Athletic. Wembanyama had interactions with Jaden McDaniels, Ayo Dosunmu and Anthony Edwards early in the game, but he just smiled and played through them as the Spurs rolled to a 29-point victory.
“I feel like the rage baiting would have been maybe one of their strategies,” Wembanyama said. “I just feel like we need to stay composed as a team.”
Instead of getting upset, Wembanyama responded by torching the Timberwolves for 27 points, 17 rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two three-pointers, a combined stat line that no one else has ever reached in the playoffs. Prior to the game, Devin Vassell said he was looking for “Angry Vic,” but coach Mitch Johnson was relieved that “Mature Vic” showed up instead. Wembanyama believes he brought a little bit of both, and the combination was too much for Minnesota.
“I feel like we got the Vic that you’ve seen all year. I think his maturity level was off the charts,” Stephon Castle said. “When he’s playing like that, playing aggressive with everything he brings for us defensively, I feel like we’re pretty hard to beat.”
There’s more from San Antonio:
- Dylan Harper‘s highlight dunk in the fourth quarter provided an exclamation point for his high-level performance throughout the postseason, observes Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. Harper was a plus-13 on Tuesday, and the Spurs have outscored opponents by 73 combined points in the playoffs when he’s been on the court. “If he played for any other team in the league,” Carter Bryant said, “he’d be starting and probably be winning the Rookie of the Year right now. And to see how he’s sacrificed and bought into his role, it’s amazing.”
- Keldon Johnson has mostly been held in check during the postseason, but he displayed his Sixth Man of the Year credentials in Game 5, Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News notes in a subscriber-only story. Johnson, who was limited to 31 total points in the five games against Portland and 35 in the first four games of this series, went 8-of-11 from the field on his way to a 21-point night.
- Prior to Game 4, Mitch Johnson talked about the team’s chances to be a title contender for years to come with a youthful core of Wembanyama (22), Castle (21), Harper (20) and Bryant (20), relays Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). “We have a lot of young players I don’t think are anywhere near reaching their ceiling or optimal level of playing,” Johnson said. “And we’re still learning about each other and ourselves. The coach has room to grow and get better. So, yeah, I just don’t think we’re anywhere near being a finished product by any means. There’s a lot of room to improve.”
Spurs Notes: Barnes, Fox, Vassell, Johnson
The Spurs hold a 3-1 advantage in their first-round series against the Trail Blazers and can close it out on Tuesday night. Veteran forward Harrison Barnes experienced a championship with Golden State, so he knows what it takes to make a deep playoff run.
Relying on the identity the Spurs have built during the season is a key to postseason success, Barnes told Marc J. Spears of Andscape.
“The biggest thing is continuing to do what we’ve been doing, which is relying on our habits,” Barnes said. “We’ve had 82-plus games to build an identity and the coaching staff led by Mitch [Johnson] has us well-prepared every night. It’s just a matter of sticking to our standard. We’ve had great contributions from all of the guys in different moments, which is something I am very proud of.”
Barnes says the Spurs have all the tools to win a title.
“We have depth and variability on both ends of the floor. We’re able to score in a multitude of ways. We’re able to defend in multiple ways,” Barnes said. “And because we’ve had so many different lineups throughout the season, we’ve been able to win in different ways.”
Here’s more on the Spurs:
- De’Aaron Fox delivered his best outing of the series with 28 points and seven assists in Game 4, when the Spurs pulled away to a 114-93 win. He scored 11 of those points in the fourth quarter. “It might have been his best game as a Spur,” Johnson said, per Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News (subscription required).
- Devin Vassell, who has three seasons remaining on his five-year, $135MM contract, came up big in the third quarter of Game 4. Vassell scored nine of his 11 points during that span, sparking the Spurs’ 73-point second-half explosion. “Just being patient, not forcing anything,” Vassell told Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). “We have a lot of great players and sometimes the ball just doesn’t come your way. So just being ready whenever the ball is swung my way and just being ultra aggressive after I get it.”
- Keldon Johnson earned the league’s Sixth Man of the Year award this season. Johnson believes that commitment to the team supersedes any individual goals, he told ESPN’s Michael C. Wright. “I was averaging 22 points [as a starter], had some individual success,” Johnson said. “I’ve been [an Olympic] gold medalist. But I realized that if you want to be here, sometimes you’ve got to remove your ego. San Antonio is a place I wanted to be. I wouldn’t change it for the world. I get an opportunity to be a part of something special. They saw the bigger picture before I did. But I’m blessed and fortunate to be able to go through it, thrive in it and have fun with it.”
Spurs Notes: Harper, Castle, Bryant, Johnson, Kornet
With Victor Wembanyama out due to a concussion, the Spurs needed their other young players to step up against the Trail Blazers, and in Game 3 on Friday, and that’s exactly what happened.
Dylan Harper came off the bench to score 27 points, and he credited Spurs legend Manu Ginobili for helping him be ready for the moment, according to ESPN’s Michael C. Wright. Harper became the youngest player ever to score 25 or more points off the bench in a playoff game. And with his 10 rebounds, he also became the youngest guard in league history with a playoff double-double, according to Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News.
“It was a moment I’ve been waiting for since I was a little kid,” Harper said. “This is the biggest stage of basketball you could ever get to.”
Stephon Castle also played a major role in the victory, scoring a game-high 33 points along with five assists. He and Harper became the first 21-and-under duo to each have 25 or more points in a playoff game since Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook in 2010.
We have more notes from the Spurs:
- While Harper and Castle stole the show, rookie Carter Bryant was crucial to the victory as well, according to McDonald. “Obviously Dylan’s box score is loud,” coach Mitch Johnson said. “But I think Carter’s game was probably just as loud.” Functioning as a small-ball center, Bryant was passing up shots and hurting the team’s offense until he hit a step-back three in the third quarter. He then proceeded to shut down Blazers star Deni Avdija for the next 10 minutes, according to Jared Weiss of The Athletic. “As much as I work on my game, for the other team, it’s demoralizing when I hit a shot like that,” Bryant said. “Just understanding what the game of basketball is. Like, they’re living with me shooting that shot. Clock is winding down, (I) look up, there’s three seconds on the shot clock. Shoot it. Let the ball fly. (I) work too hard not to trust it.”
- As Weiss notes, Spurs rookies Bryant and Harper have a long-standing friendship that dates back to their AAU days. “I told him once he hit that step-back three: I’m like, ‘Yo, this is time for you to turn it up a notch. You’ve been waiting for this,'” Harper said. ‘”Me and you always wanted to play with each other, even in college. Now, we got the opportunity to flip this game.'”
- Recently crowned Sixth Man of the Year Keldon Johnson has struggled with his offense in the series, having not hit double-digit scoring in any of the three games. He’s confident it’s just a matter of time until he gets back to playing his game, Tom Orsborn writes for the San Antonio-Express News. “Every game is different when it comes to the playoffs, and I’m just feeling out the game and trying to find my rhythm, trying to find my groove and my niche and just continue to play hard,” Johnson said. “As long as we’re winning, that’s the most important thing. I’ll find my rhythm (offensively) as we go throughout. I’ll continue to take the same shots and I’ll make the shots.”
- Luke Kornet has been a reliable option every time the Spurs have needed him to fill in for Wembanyama, and Friday was no exception. Kornet matched or set career playoff highs in points (14), rebounds (10), assists (two), and minutes played (30) while adding a pair of blocks and knocking down his first three-pointer in two years, per Orsborn. “It’s fun to shoot one. Fun to make it. Fun to get the win,” Kornet said. No one on the team was surprised that the big man was able to provide such a spark when called upon. “I feel like he’s been consistent for us all year,” said Johnson. “Whenever we’ve been shorthanded or Vic hasn’t been able to play, he stepped up and filled that role, field that void. He’s been tremendous for us.”
Southwest Notes: Grizzlies, Wemby, Johnson, Rockets
LeBron James irked fans in Memphis earlier this month when he spoke during a YouTube show about how much he dislikes staying in the city and expressed a belief that the Grizzlies should relocate to Nashville. Addressing those comments – and Memphis’ reputation in general – during an appearance this week on the Pardon My Take podcast, NBA commissioner Adam Silver suggested James’ views aren’t commonly held throughout the league.
“First of all, players I talk to all the time like playing in Memphis,” Silver said, per Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. “I have never heard that issue of players not wanting to be in Memphis. That’s number one. Number two is the owner of the Memphis Grizzlies, a guy named Robert Pera, has no interest in moving the team out of Memphis. He has made that clear.”
While Silver insisted that moving the Grizzlies across the state isn’t on the table, he did refer to Nashville as a “city on the rise” and indicated he wouldn’t mind seeing the Grizzlies play some games there. There’s a recent – and nearby – precedent for that, as the divisional rival Spurs have been playing two regular season games in Austin annually since 2023.
“If it were up to me, I would like to see them play a few games a year in Nashville and sort of be Tennessee’s team to the extent that they can,” Silver said. “Memphis has been a great market historically for the NBA, and there is amazing history in that city and amazing culture.”
We have more from around the Southwest:
- While Victor Wembanyama (concussion) is officially listed as questionable for Friday’s game in Portland, his Spurs teammates are preparing for the worst-case scenario and approaching Game 3 as if they won’t have the star big man available, writes Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). For what it’s worth, in the 18 regular season games Wembanyama missed, San Antonio went 12-6, including 2-1 vs. Portland. “I think we just have to play how we have the whole way, just playing with a lot of force and physicality and pace,” center Luke Kornet said. “Obviously there will be little things to adjust, but I feel we’ve had a lot of experience playing that way.”
- Keldon Johnson is a consistently positive presence in the Spurs‘ locker room, but after being named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year on Wednesday, he admitted that it has been a difficult year for him, per Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). Johnson’s grandfather has been fighting cancer in Virginia and Johnson hasn’t been able to see as much of his parents, whom he describes as his best friends. “With what I had going on, on the days I didn’t have it, I was able to come here and my teammates picked me up,” Johnson said. “I saw our medical team smiling, our video room guys (smiling), it’s like one big family. Day in and day out, you see Keldon Johnson with all the energy, but the people who are here with me, they make this possible for me.”
- If the Rockets can’t rally from their 2-0 deficit and win their first-round series against a Lakers team missing its MVP, the organization will have some hard questions to answer this summer about what changes are necessary to take the next step forward, writes Varun Shankar of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required). Alperen Sengun must play a key role in any comeback effort, according to William Guillory of The Athletic, who says Houston’s center is about to play the two most important games of his career on Friday and Sunday.
Spurs’ Keldon Johnson Named Sixth Man Of The Year
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).
NBA Announces Finalists For 2025/26 Awards
The NBA has announced the finalists for this season’s major awards, including Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, Coach of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Most Improved Player, and Clutch Player of the Year.
The MVP, Rookie of the Year, and Coach of the Year finalists were announced at halftime of the NBC broadcast of Game 1 between the Pistons and Magic, while the league’s official account tweeted the rest.
Most Valuable Player
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder)
- Nikola Jokic (Nuggets)
- Victor Wembanyama (Spurs)
The leaders of the three top teams in the Western Conference all have strong arguments for MVP. Jokic became the first player to lead the league in rebounds and assists per game while also averaging 27.7 points. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31.1 PPG and led the Thunder to the league’s best record despite the fact that multiple starters missed substantial time this season. Wembanyama averaged 25.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, and a league-best 3.1 blocks per game while emerging as a lock for Defensive Player of the Year.
Rookie of the Year
- Cooper Flagg (Mavericks)
- Kon Knueppel (Hornets)
- VJ Edgecombe (Sixers)
This race is expected to come down to the former Duke teammates. Knueppel played a key role for a resurgent Hornets squad, becoming the first rookie to lead the league in made three-pointers while averaging 18.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game in 81 appearances. Flagg’s Mavs finished well out of the postseason picture, but he showed massive star upside, averaging 21.0 PPG, 6.7 RPG, and 4.5 APG while scoring at least 42 points in four separate games. Edgecombe averaged 35.0 minutes per game over 75 contests, posting a well-rounded 16.0 PPG, 5.6 RPG, and 4.2 APG.
Coach of the Year
- Joe Mazzulla (Celtics)
- J.B. Bickerstaff (Pistons)
- Mitch Johnson (Spurs)
Mazzulla and Bickerstaff each led massively overperforming teams that managed to dominate the Eastern Conference despite having players in and out of the lineup all year. Johnson helped navigate a tricky guard rotation and spacing issues as the Spurs posted the second-best record in the league.
Defensive Player of the Year
- Chet Holmgren (Thunder)
- Ausar Thompson (Pistons)
- Victor Wembanyama (Spurs)
Wembanyama is the overwhelming favorite to win this award, ranking first in total blocks, blocks per game, defensive rating, and defensive rebounding percentage this season. Holmgren was second in blocks per game for the league’s top defense, while Thompson proved himself to be arguably the best perimeter defender in the league with his combination of off-ball defensive play-making and point-of-attack dominance.
Most Improved Player
- Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Hawks)
- Deni Avdija (Trail Blazers)
- Jalen Duren (Pistons)
Both Avdija and Duren were first-time All-Stars this season, while Alexander-Walker earned a starting spot on his new team and raised his scoring from 9.4 points per game last season to 20.8 PPG this season on .459/.399/.902 shooting splits, all career high percentages.
Sixth Man of the Year
- Tim Hardaway Jr. (Nuggets)
- Jaime Jaquez Jr. (Heat)
- Keldon Johnson (Spurs)
Hardaway cracked 40% from three this season for the first time in his career while shooting 6.9 attempts in his 26.6 minutes per game. Most importantly for the injury-plagued Nuggets, he played 80 games, including six starts, and was the team’s fifth-highest scorer. Jaquez had an impressively well-rounded contribution off the bench, posting career-highs of 15.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 4.7 assists. Johnson was a crucial scoring hub for the Spurs bench units while adding offensive pop when the starters struggled to score.
Clutch Player of the Year
- Anthony Edwards (Timberwolves)
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder)
- Jamal Murray (Nuggets)
Gilgeous-Alexander and Edwards ranked first and second, respectively, in clutch scoring per game, while Murray was second in total clutch points behind the Thunder star and shot the most efficiently from three of the guards.
Brett Siegel of Clutch Points notes (via Twitter) that the awards will be announced in the coming days and weeks, starting with Defensive Player of the Year on Monday, April 20.
And-Ones: NBA Awards Picks, G League Awards
Reigning Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander claims two awards on the unofficial ballot of Dan Devine of Yahoo Sports: MVP and Clutch Player of the Year.
To be clear, Devine does have an official vote for year-end awards, but those ballots aren’t sent out until the regular season concludes on April 12. Devine also notes that he may be forced to change some of his picks, depending on which players are eligible.
Victor Wembanyama, for example, needs to play at least 20 minutes in one of San Antonio’s remaining two games to be eligible for awards consideration. The French big man is Devine’s choice for Defensive Player of the Year and is his runner-up for MVP, ahead of Nikola Jokic.
Kon Knueppel (Rookie of the Year) and Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Most Improved Player) are a couple of Devine’s other awards picks.
Here are a few more awards-related stories and announcements:
- There’s quite a bit of overlap between Devine’s awards picks and the tentative selections of Zach Harper of The Athletic. Both writers have Joe Mazzulla, J.B. Bickerstaff and Mitch Johnson as the three finalists, in order of how they finish, for Coach of the Year, and Keldon Johnson, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Tim Hardaway Jr. as their top three picks for Sixth Man of the Year.
- Michael Pina of The Ringer lists his three All-NBA, two All-Defensive, and two All-Rookie teams. Pina’s first-team All-NBA picks are Kawhi Leonard, Jaylen Brown, Gilgeous-Alexander, Wembanyama and Jokic; his All-Defensive First Team selections are Wembanyama, Derrick White, Scottie Barnes, Ausar Thompson and Chet Holmgren; and his top-five rookies are Knueppel, Cooper Flagg, VJ Edgecombe, Dylan Harper and Derik Queen.
- The NBA G League has announced its All-Defensive and All-Rookie teams, which are each comprised of five players (Twitter links via the NBA). The All-Defensive selections are Jamarion Sharp (Texas Legends), Chris Manon (South Bay Lakers), Alijah Martin (Raptors 905), Andersson Garcia (Mexico City Capitanes) and Jalen Slawson (Noblesville Boom), while the All-Rookie team consists of Raptors 905 standout Martin, Norchad Omier and Sean Pedulla of the San Diego Clippers, Keshon Gilbert (College Park Skyhawks) and RJ Davis (South Bay Lakers). Martin, Manon, Slawson (Pacers), Omier and Pedulla are on two-way contracts with their respective NBA teams.