Kings’ Malik Monk makes valid case for SMOY snub in one tweet

Minnesota Timberwolves center Naz Reid won the 2024 Kia NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award after averaging 13.5 points and 5.2 rebounds during the regular season, both career highs, for a team that spent a good chunk of time atop the Western Conference standings and has a legitimate shot at a deep playoff run.

Reid is deserving of the award. But he isn’t the only one.

The former LSU standout won by the smallest margin in award voting, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. He finished just 10 total points ahead of the player who finished second. He received the same amount of second-place votes and the same amount of third-place votes; the only difference was his 45 first-place votes compared to 43 for the award’s runner-up.

Naz Reid is the first Timberwolves player to win Sixth Man of the Year. He’s the third undrafted player to win, joining Darrell Armstrong (1999) and John Starks (1997). His 169 threes are the most in a season by an undrafted PF/C. He won by the smallest margin in award voting 👀 pic.twitter.com/m0D3iRvWQD

— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) April 24, 2024

Reid won by the slimmest of margins, but it’s fair for Sacramento Kings guard Malik Monk to gripe about it.

Malik Monk makes a valid case for being snubbed in Sixth Man of the Year voting with just a single repost

It’s arguably the second consecutive year Monk has been passed over for the award, but the 26-year-old has a host of stats to back up this season’s argument:

Malik Monk this season:

• Most PTS off the bench
• Most AST off the bench
• Most 20-point games off the bench
• Most 25-point games off the bench
• Most Clutch PTS, FGM, 3PM off the bench pic.twitter.com/jIouGpWBwF

— StatMamba (@StatMamba) April 24, 2024

Monk reposted the StatMamba tweet. He didn’t need to say much else.

In addition to the abovementioned numbers, the Kings guard averaged more points than Reid (15.4) and was exclusively a sixth man. He played in 72 games and started none. Reid played in 81 games and started 14 of them, all of which came in the season’s final month when Karl-Anthony Towns missed time with a knee injury. Averaging 17 points and 7 rebounds in 29 minutes a night for four straight weeks probably didn’t hurt his case.

That’s not to take anything away from Reid. As Scotto pointed out, he’s only the third undrafted player to win the award and he’s made significant contributions to a title contender all year. But Monk had a case, too, and he didn’t need to say much – anything at all, really – to make it.

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