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San Antonio Spurs forward Keldon Johnson (3) watches play during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Wednesday, April 8, 2026, in San Antonio.<\/p>\n
Darren Abate\/AP<\/p>\n
Miami Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. (11) drives on Indiana Pacers guard Kobe Brown (24) during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Sunday, March 29, 2026.<\/p>\n
Michael Conroy\/AP<\/p>\n
Denver Nuggets guard Tim Hardaway Jr., left, gestures after hitting a 3-point basket as guard Julian Strawther looks on in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Golden State Warriors Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Denver.<\/p>\n
David Zalubowski\/AP<\/p>\n
Keldon Johnson was the ultimate backup for the San Antonio Spurs this season.<\/p>\n
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He played in all 82 games, all off the bench, becoming only the second NBA player in the last decade to do that. He became the first Spurs player to score 1,000 points as a reserve in a season. And all year long, San Antonio touted him as the best backup in the league.<\/p>\n
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Voters agreed \u2014 and the Spurs have another award winner.<\/p>\n
Johnson was announced Wednesday as the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year, joining Manu Ginobili in 2008 as the only Spurs to win the award. It’s the first individual NBA award for Johnson, who was part of the U.S. Olympic team that won gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started for a long time,\u201d Johnson said on ESPN after he was revealed as the winner. \u201cNow, it’s my time to come off the bench. I just continue to analyze the game, come off the bench, go in there and just do my thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jaime Jaquez Jr. of the Miami Heat finished second in the voting and Tim Hardaway Jr. of the Denver Nuggets was third. Jaquez led all NBA reserves in scoring and double-digit games, while Hardaway led reserves with 205 3-pointers and was fourth in the league in scoring off the bench.<\/p>\n
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Hardaway and Jaquez tied for ninth in 2024. Hardaway was also fifth in 2021, 10th in 2017 and tied for 13th as a rookie in 2014.<\/p>\n
It was the culmination of a two-year run like few others for Johnson, who has appeared in 159 games over the past two seasons \u2014 always coming off the bench. No other player in the NBA has played anywhere near that many games without a start in that span.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to be part of something special here in San Antonio,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI knew that in order for me to really be the best for our team that coming off the bench was probably my best possibility. At first, it was tough. I had to (control) my ego and put the team first. After that, the sky was the limit.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was the third award the NBA has handed out this postseason, the second won by the Spurs and the first with any real intrigue about who was going to win.<\/p>\n
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On Monday, San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama became the first unanimous selection as Defensive Player of the Year. And on Tuesday, reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Oklahoma City was named the Clutch Player of the Year \u2014 getting 96 of the 100 possible first-place votes.<\/p>\n
In the Sixth Man balloting, Johnson got 63 first-place votes, while Jaquez got 34. Hardaway was followed by Minnesota\u2019s Naz Reid (the 2024 winner who got one first-place vote this year) in fourth, Oklahoma City\u2019s Ajay Mitchell in fifth, Houston\u2019s Reed Sheppard in sixth, Detroit\u2019s Isaiah Stewart (one first-place vote) in seventh, New York\u2019s Mitchell Robinson (one first-place vote) in eighth, Minnesota\u2019s Ayo Dosunmu in ninth, Toronto\u2019s Sandro Mamukelashvili in 10th, San Antonio\u2019s Dylan Harper in 11th and Toronto\u2019s Jamal Shead in 12th.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a little emotional,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt\u2019s a big accomplishment. A lot of hard work goes into an award like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The league\u2019s Sportsmanship Award winner will be announced Thursday, with one player from each division \u2014 Miami’s Bam Adebayo (Southeast), San Antonio’s Harrison Barnes (Southwest), Gilgeous-Alexander (Northwest), Golden State’s Al Horford (Pacific), Indiana’s T.J. McConnell (Central) and Boston’s Derrick White (Atlantic) \u2014 selected as the finalists. That award is voted on by players, not the media panel that decides most winners.<\/p>\n
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The Most Improved Player award \u2014 either Nickeil Alexander-Walker of Atlanta, Deni Avdija of Portland or Jalen Duren of Detroit \u2014 will be revealed Friday.<\/p>\n
Other awards that are coming but have not had their announcement dates revealed are Coach of the Year (Detroit’s J.B. Bickerstaff, San Antonio’s Mitch Johnson or Boston’s Joe Mazzulla), Rookie of the Year (Philadelphia’s VJ Edgecombe, Dallas’ Cooper Flagg or Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel) and MVP (Gilgeous-Alexander, Wembanyama or Denver’s Nikola Jokic).<\/p>\n
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