NBA Awards 2023 finalists, award announcement dates, and more
The regular-season NBA awards will be announced soon. There are seven different categories, with each category having three finalists. As of Tuesday, one award winner has already been announced.
Jaren Jackson Jr. of the Memphis Grizzlies was named the Defensive Player of the Year on Monday. The other two finalists were Brook Lopez (Milwaukee Bucks) and Evan Mobley (Cleveland Cavaliers).
There are still six more NBA awards to be given out, with the next award going to the Clutch Player of the Year.
Jimmy Butler (Miami Heat), DeMar DeRozan (Chicago Bulls) and De'Aaron Fox (Sacramento Kings) are the finalists for the award.
The winner of the award will be announced on Tuesday, around 7 PM ET. Considering how Fox has performed this season, he is the favorite to win the award.
Coach of the Year will be announced on Wednesday. Mike Brown (Kings), Mark Daigneault (Thunder) and Joe Mazzulla (Celtics) are the contenders.
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Brown was named NBCA Coach of the Year last week and is a favorite to win the official award as well. While Mazzulla's Celtics have a better record (57-25) than both the Kings (48-34) and Thunder (40-42), Brown deserves a lot of credit for ending Sacramento's 17-year playoff drought
The NBA will announce the Sixth Man of the Year on Thursday. The award is given to the best bench player in the league, with Malcolm Brogdon (Celtics), Bobby Portis (Bucks) and Immanuel Quickley (New York Knicks) competing this year.
All of these players have done a fantastic job, but the Knicks guard is the favorite to win the award. Averaging 14.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game, Quickley helped the Knicks win 47 games this season.
Three more NBA awards – Rookie of the Year, Most Improved Player of the Year, and MVP – will be announced during the playoffs. The exact dates for these awards haven't been revealed yet.
Paolo Banchero (Orlando Magic), Walker Kessler (Utah Jazz) and Jalen Williams (Thunder) are competing for the title of best rookie, while Jalen Brunson (Knicks), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder) and Lauri Markkanen (Jazz) are in contention for the MIP.
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The MVP award will go to Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks), Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets) or Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers).