The NBA sixth man of the year award is a trophy awarded to the best bench player in the entire NBA for any given regular season.
History
The NBA Sixth Man Award made its initial debut in the 1982-1983 season. The first player to win the Sixth Man of the Year Award was Bobby Jones, a power forward for the Philadelphia 76ers at the time.
Up to this point, there have been only four sixth men of the year that went on to make the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame. Those players are Bobby Jones, Kevin McHale, Bill Walton, and Toni Kukoc.
However, this number is likely to continue to grow in the near future as players like James Harden and Manu Ginobili still awaiting their possible selections into the Hall of Fame.
While this is one of the more overlooked awards, winning the Sixth Man of the Year is still a huge accomplishment and usually tends to go to a player on a team that has a very deep bench.
Who is the best sixth man in NBA history?
There have been two players who dominated the Sixth Man of the Year Award through the 2010s NBA. Those players are Lou Williams and Jamal Crawford.
Williams and Crawford combined for five of the possible ten Sixth Man Awards in the decade. Lou Williams took home three awards in the decade while Jamal Crawford won the award twice.
Other 2010 Recipients
The five other winners in the decade were Lamar Odom (Los Angeles Lakers) in 2010, James Harden (Oklahoma City Thunder) 2011, J.R. Smith (New York Knicks) 2012, Eric Gordon (Houston Rockets) 2016, Montrezl Harrell (LA Clippers) 2019, Jordan Clarkson (Utah Jazz) 2020.
Interestingly, the two players are also tied for first in NBA history in 6th man of the year. Williams and Crawford are the only two players in the NBA history to be three-time 6th man of the year award winners.
Both players also won a majority of their awards during their time with the LA Clippers. Williams won the award twice during his time with the Clippers (his other award coming with the Toronto Raptors) and Crawford also took the award home twice while on the LA Clippers (his other award coming with the Atlanta Hawks).
They have been a huge reason as to why the LA Clippers rank first among all teams in 6th man of the year award winners.
The only player in Clippers history outside of Crawford and Williams to win the award is Montrezl Harrell, who won the award in the 2019-2020 season.
Reigning Champion: Jordan Clarkson, Utah Jazz
Last year’s award winner was Jordan Clarkson, shooting guard for the Utah Jazz. Clarkson was the first-ever NBA Sixth Man Award winner in the history of the Utah Jazz.
In the 2020-2021 season, Clarkson averaged 18.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game on 34.7% from three coming off of the bench outside of the single game he started that year.
Despite only starting in a single game that year, Jordan Clarkson was still a major key to the Jazz finishing the year with 55 wins and clinching the top seed in the Western Conference and well deserved to be the 6th man of the year award winner in 2020-2021.
Possible Repeat For the Jazz
Clarkson is once again in the race this year. While we have not seen repeat wins since Williams in 2017-2019, Clarkson may once again do enough to bring the trophy home.
This year, Clarkson is starting off on the wrong foot. He is shooting well below the NBA average from three. Along with this, Clarkson has taken a dip in scoring, assist, and rebounds per game compared to last year.
Along with this, his teammate Ingles is making a run for the accolade. Although he only sits tied for 9th according to current betting odds, if he can take advantage of Clarkson’s early year slump he could work his way up the standings.
The game of Joe Ingles is one that makes him a perfect candidate. He can score a high amount of points on very few shot attempts due to his three-point shot. Along with this, he does not need the ball in his hands to be effective. These are two major traits that all teams look for in their bench players.
2021-2022 Sixth Man of the Year Race
The NBA 6th man race has a clear front runner which is something that could very well change by the end of the year. This year odds have Tyler Herro of the Miami Heat as the heavy favorite so far. He currently leads the pack with odds of -152.
Tyler Herro has come out of the gates hot so far this year. He is averaging 22.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game. Along with this, his team sits tied second place in the Eastern Conference and tied for fourth place in the league.
This year odds have Montrezl Harrell listed as tied for second. His odds sit at +1200. Despite this being longshot odds, Harrell has a case to win the award. After being traded from the Los Angeles Lakers to the Washington Wizards in the regular season, Harrell has taken a big jump with his bigger role.
Currently, he is averaging 17.5 points and 9.0 rebounds a night. Harrell has been the best bench center in the NBA this year, and at times appears to be the second-best player on the Washington Wizards.
Some other NBA players to keep an eye on to win the award this season are Derrick Rose (New York Knicks), Tyrese Haliburton (Sacramento Kings), and Miles Bridges (Charlotte Hornets).
The current odds list them at +3000, +1800, and +5000 respectively. Despite there being a clear frontrunner, for now, anything can happen in this league and it is still anyone’s game to bring home the trophy.
