An unexpected name surfaced in the voting results for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award, as New York Knicks forward Bojan Bogdanovic received a single third-place vote.
Despite this, the award ultimately went to Minnesota Timberwolves’ forward Naz Reid. It was quite surprising for a Knicks player to garner any recognition for the award, particularly following the departure of Immanuel Quickley midway through the season.
Bogdanovic joined the Knicks via trade at the February deadline and didn’t fit the traditional mold of a “sixth man” in Coach Tom Thibodeau’s rotation. Often, he saw limited playing time and wasn’t typically the first player off the bench.
Additionally, he started 27 games for the Detroit Pistons earlier in the season, which doesn’t align with the criteria for the award intended for reserves.
Struggling for a significant portion of the regular season with the Knicks, Bogdanovic averaged just 10.4 points, shot 43% from the field, and had a plus-minus of -95 in 29 games played off the bench.
The unexpected appearance of Bogdanovic on the ballot has sparked speculation among fans that the vote may have been intended for Atlanta Hawks forward Bogdan Bogdanovic (no relation to Bojan), who finished fifth on the ballot and received four first-place votes, but was possibly mistakenly attributed to Bojan.
Regarding other awards, no Knicks players were named as finalists for any of the major honors. It remains to be seen if any additional Knicks players receive votes for these awards, whether warranted or due to an error.
