Which of the three do you think has the best shot to win their respective award?
The NBA announced its finalists for the 2022-23 regular season awards and there is a trio of Oklahoma City Thunder candidates named for three separate races.
The league announced finalists for all of its seven awards on TNT prior to the start of the play-in tournament games that will determine the No. 8 seed in each conference.
As a reminder, the seven awards include MVP, Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Most Improved Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Clutch Player of the Year.
Let’s look at which the Thunder have a representative of as they prepare to play the Minnesota Timberwolves in the last play-in tournament game of the season.
Top 10 odds for every award entering the NBA season.
Bookmark this link. It’ll make for a fun exercise at the end of the NBA season to go back and see how wrong (or right?!) bookmakers were about awards in 2022-23.
This is a peek at top 10 odds for MVP, Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Most Improved Player and Coach of the Year.
We all think we have a handle on where things are headed, but how many people are willing to put their money on it? These odds from BetMGM show just how much money your opinions are worth.
(Odds are from before the season-opening games Tuesday.)
He nearly doubled his scoring average and did double his rebounding, going from 10.3 points and 2.8 rebounds per game as a rookie and 19.0 points and 5.9 rebounds as a second-year player.
Many voters prefer to not vote for second-year players, as they are expected to improve from year one to year two. Gilgeous-Alexander did this to a level that most don’t, though, and did it both on the stat sheet and from the eye test: After looking like a good player a rookie, he now looks to be a surefire future All-Star.
Full voting results for Most Improved Player below.
Gilgeous-Alexander did not get any first-place votes, but five people voted him for second and six for third.
New Orleans Pelicans wing Brandon Ingram won the award with 42 first-place votes. He was followed by Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo, who had 38.
Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic was in third place after picking up 12 first-place votes. He was the only other player to earn more than three first-place votes.
Boston Celtics wing Jayson Tatum finished fourth and Charlotte Hornets guard Devonte’ Graham finished fifth.
In his first season in Oklahoma City, Gilgeous-Alexander is leading the Thunder in both points (19.3) and minutes (35.0) per game and is second in rebounds per game (6.1) behind Steven Adams.
Although Nick Crain of Forbes points out that “second-year players typically don’t win an award like this due to the jump from year one to year two being expected” Gilgeous-Alexander’s growth during his second season is enough to put him in contention to be the NBA’s most improved player.
Looking at his stats from his rookie season with the Clippers compared to this season with the Thunder, he has nearly doubled his production in several statistical categories, including points and rebounds. The fact that Gilgeous-Alexander is just 21 years old and leads a top ten NBA team in scoring is extremely impressive. Outside of Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks, there are very few players who you can say this about.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s improvement from his rookie season has been exponential, and his play has been a vital part of the Thunder’s surprising success this year.
Bringing him in as part of the deal for Paul George is not only part of what makes Sam Presti a candidate for the NBA Executive of the Year, but it’s one of the biggest reasons why the Thunder are set up for future success, as Gilgeous-Alexander has established himself this season as the up and coming face of the franchise.
Check out some of the best highlights from Gilgeous-Alexander’s breakout season:
