04/22/26 05:35:00
Printable Page
04/22 17:33 CDT Spurs' Keldon Johnson honored as NBA's Sixth Man of the Year,
topping Jaquez, Hardaway
Spurs' Keldon Johnson honored as NBA's Sixth Man of the Year, topping Jaquez,
Hardaway
By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Basketball Writer
Keldon Johnson was the ultimate backup for the San Antonio Spurs this season.
He played in all 82 games, all off the bench, becoming only the second NBA
player in the last decade to do that. He became the first Spurs player to score
1,000 points as a reserve in a season. And all year long, San Antonio touted
him as the best backup in the league.
Voters agreed --- and the Spurs have another award winner.
Johnson was announced Wednesday as the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year, joining
Manu Ginobili in 2008 as the only Spurs to win the award. It's the first
individual NBA award for Johnson, who was part of the U.S. Olympic team that
won gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
"I started for a long time," Johnson said on ESPN after he was revealed as the
winner. "Now, it's my time to come off the bench. I just continue to analyze
the game, come off the bench, go in there and just do my thing."
Jaime Jaquez Jr. of the Miami Heat finished second in the voting and Tim
Hardaway Jr. of the Denver Nuggets was third. Jaquez led all NBA reserves in
scoring and double-digit games, while Hardaway led reserves with 205 3-pointers
and was fourth in the league in scoring off the bench.
Hardaway and Jaquez tied for ninth in 2024. Hardaway was also fifth in 2021,
10th in 2017 and tied for 13th as a rookie in 2014.
It was the culmination of a two-year run like few others for Johnson, who has
appeared in 159 games over the past two seasons --- always coming off the
bench. No other player in the NBA has played anywhere near that many games
without a start in that span.
"I wanted to be part of something special here in San Antonio," Johnson said.
"I knew that in order for me to really be the best for our team that coming off
the bench was probably my best possibility. At first, it was tough. I had to
(control) my ego and put the team first. After that, the sky was the limit."
It was the third award the NBA has handed out this postseason, the second won
by the Spurs and the first with any real intrigue about who was going to win.
On Monday, San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama became the first unanimous selection
as Defensive Player of the Year. And on Tuesday, reigning MVP Shai
Gilgeous-Alexander of Oklahoma City was named the Clutch Player of the Year ---
getting 96 of the 100 possible first-place votes.
In the Sixth Man balloting, Johnson got 63 first-place votes, while Jaquez got
34. Hardaway was followed by Minnesota's Naz Reid (the 2024 winner who got one
first-place vote this year) in fourth, Oklahoma City's Ajay Mitchell in fifth,
Houston's Reed Sheppard in sixth, Detroit's Isaiah Stewart (one first-place
vote) in seventh, New York's Mitchell Robinson (one first-place vote) in
eighth, Minnesota's Ayo Dosunmu in ninth, Toronto's Sandro Mamukelashvili in
10th, San Antonio's Dylan Harper in 11th and Toronto's Jamal Shead in 12th.
"It's a little emotional," Johnson said. "It's a big accomplishment. A lot of
hard work goes into an award like this."
The league's Sportsmanship Award winner will be announced Thursday, with one
player from each division --- Miami's Bam Adebayo (Southeast), San Antonio's
Harrison Barnes (Southwest), Gilgeous-Alexander (Northwest), Golden State's Al
Horford (Pacific), Indiana's T.J. McConnell (Central) and Boston's Derrick
White (Atlantic) --- selected as the finalists. That award is voted on by
players, not the media panel that decides most winners.
The Most Improved Player award --- either Nickeil Alexander-Walker of Atlanta,
Deni Avdija of Portland or Jalen Duren of Detroit --- will be revealed Friday.
Other awards that are coming but have not had their announcement dates revealed
are Coach of the Year (Detroit's J.B. Bickerstaff, San Antonio's Mitch Johnson
or Boston's Joe Mazzulla), Rookie of the Year (Philadelphia's VJ Edgecombe,
Dallas' Cooper Flagg or Charlotte's Kon Knueppel) and MVP (Gilgeous-Alexander,
Wembanyama or Denver's Nikola Jokic).
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
|
