It’s awards season in the NBA, and we as fans have been blessed with one of the best MVP races in recent memory between Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Obviously, the Wizards will only be lightly represented in the various awards races around the Association. So who is eligible, and who deserves a mention, whether as a favorite to win or as a down-ballot consideration candidate?
As a reminder, all non-rookie awards have a 65 games played minimum in order to be eligible. This means that Bilal Coulibaly and Corey Kispert are ineligible, not that they were particularly strong candidates for any awards anyway.
Sixth Man of the Year
I do not see a single Wizard even receiving a vote for this award. To me, this is down to a two-man race between the Celtics’ Payton Pritchard and the Pistons’ Malik Beasley. Beasley would be my pick, though I expect the voters will wind up giving the award to Pritchard.
Most Improved Player
The Clippers’ Ivica Zubac, the Lakers’ Austin Reaves, and the Hawks’ Dyson Daniels would be my three top choices for this award.
I think Jordan Poole is worthy of consideration as a down-ballot candidate based on how catastrophic his 2023-24 season for the Wizards was. It’s a night-and-day difference between this year and last for Poole, and he’s even found himself back on The Ringer’s top 100 player rankings.
Defensive Player of the Year
Haha. No.
All-Defensive Teams
There is one plus-level defender on the Wizards: Bilal Coulibaly. He did not qualify for end-of-season awards, as he only played 59 games this season, but he would not be in any serious consideration even if he did play enough.
Rookie of the Year
Alex Sarr will almost certainly finish in the top three for this award. He could even finish as high as second, though I believe the Spurs’ Stephon Castle will comfortably run away with the award.
Sarr is having a really solid rookie season, posting 13 points and 6.5 boards while showing off a really solid deep shooting stroke for a seven-footer. Obviously, being a rookie, Sarr’s shooting percentages are rather grim, but he projects as a good NBA player going forward and would certainly not be a bad pick for Rookie of the Year.
All-Rookie Teams
Sarr is a lock for the All-Rookie first team. I think Bub Carrington is likely to see his name on the All-Rookie second team as well after leading all rookies in total minutes this season.
The odd man out here is Kyshawn George, who at one point looked like a potential All-Rookie player but has been outplayed by some of the guys who caught up to the NBA game over the second half of the season. Some names that come to mind in that category are Kel’el Ware, Isaiah Collier, and Zach Edey.
Coach of the Year
It would be completely shocking to see the coach of a sub-20 win team win Coach of the Year. Only one coach whose team had a losing record, Johnny Kerr in 1967, has ever won the award.
Besides, there have been so many more deserving coaches in the NBA this season, like Ty Lue, Mark Daigneault, JB Bickerstaff, Kenny Atkinson, and Joe Mazzulla, to name a few.