Who wins what: NBA's 2017-18 Mid-Season Awards
After this previous Saturday night's action, every NBA team has played at least 41 games - mathematically the halfway mark of the regular season. Through the first half of this 2017-18 season, there are have been surprises, disappointments and plenty of storylines. It's often these storylines that determine in a voter's mind which player deserves which award.
While the season-break (All-Star weekend) is still more than a couple of weeks away, given the mathematical significance of 41 games, let's take a look at the frontrunners for each of the top six season-ending awards
Sixth Man of the Year - Lou Williams, LA Clippers
So early on in the season, everybody was buying Tyreke Evans' case for this award but the last few weeks have changed who's the favorite. There were murmurs of Dwyane Wade being in the conversation as well, given how well the Cleveland Cavaliers' second unit was playing up until mid-December.
Past few weeks Tyreke Evans has begun starting games for the Memphis Grizzlies, which makes him more and more ineligible for the award with each game. In addition, Lou Williams, although coming off the bench, has got a lot to do with the LA Clippers' current hot streak of winning 12 of their last 15 games.
During these 15 games, Williams is averaging 29.3 points per game while his season average is 23.2. He has started the last six games (13 overall this season), with injuries cutting through the team's backcourt depth. Unless he keeps starting games, Williams could go on to win his second Sixth Man of the Year award, after earlier winning the award in 2015 with the Toronto Raptors.