The NBA has announced it’s regular season award winners for the 2023-24 year. Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic headlined the winners by being named Kia MVP for the third time in four seasons.
Jokic became just the ninth player in league history to win three or more MVPs, joining a list that is topped by Los Angeles Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who has six MVPs, as well as other Lakers icons in Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, and current star LeBron James.
Jokic averaged 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds and 9.0 assists this season and was a runaway selection for the award with Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgious-Alexander and Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic finishing second and third, respectively.
Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year, becoming just the third player in history to win the award four times joining Hall of Famers Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace.
Gobert was the lynchpin of the Timberwolves top-ranked defense which held opponents to the fewest points and lowest field goal percentage in the league. Gobert also ranked second in the NBA in rebounds (12.9) and sixth in blocks (2.1).
Lakers star Anthony Davis received four first place votes but finished fourth overall in voting behind Victor Wembanyama and Bam Adebayo.
Speaking of Wembanyama, the San Antonio Spurs phenom was the unanimous selection for Rookie of the Year. Coming into the season with an immense level of hype surrounding him, Wembanyama more than lived up to it, averaging 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3.6 blocks, which led the league by a large margin.
Wembanyama became the third Spurs player to win the award, joining Tim Duncan and David Robinson. He is also just the second rookie to lead the NBA in blocks, joining Manute Bol who did so in 1986. Thunder center Chet Holmgren and Charlotte Hornets wing Brandon Miller finished second and third, respectively.
Mark Daigneault was named Coach of the Year after leading the Thunder to the top seed in the Western Conference this season. The Thunder are the youngest team in NBA history to ever claim the top seed in either conference and the work of Daigneault is one of the main reasons why.
The Thunder have shown steady signs of improvement since Daigneault took over in 2020 and this season has been a culmination of the work he has put in to develop the young Thunder into one of the NBA’s top teams. Daigneault received 89 first-place votes, running away from Orlando’s Jamahl Mosely and Minnesota’s Chris Finch.
In an extremely close vote, Minnesota’s Naz Reid narrowly edged out Sacramento’s Malik Monk to win the Sixth Man of the Year award. Reid garnered 45 first place votes to Monk’s 43, giving him the slightest edge of 352 total points to Monk’s 342.
Reid was excellent for the Timberwolves, averaging 13.5 points and 5.2 rebounds while knocking down 41.4% of his 3-pointers. His play when Karl-Anthony Towns went down due to injury was crucial in keeping Minnesota amongst the league’s top teams during a crucial stretch in the season.
Another close race came for the NBA’s Most Improved Player award as Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey beat out Chicago Bulls guard Coby White to take home the trophy. Maxey set career-highs in points (25.9), assists (6.2) and steals (1.0) while being named to his first All-Star Game.
Other NBA Award Winners
Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry was named Clutch Player of the year, beating out Bulls wing DeMar DeRozan. Lakers star LeBron James received one second-place vote for this award.
Beloved former Lakers and current Bulls guard Alex Caruso took home the NBA Hustle Award while Boston’s Brad Stevens was named NBA Executive of the Year. Two more Timberwolves were honored as well with Mike Conley winning Teammate of the Year and Karl-Anthony Towns winning the Social Justice Champion Award.
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