NBA Awards Rankings: Malik Monk injury shakes up Sixth Man of the Year race

We have arrived at the home stretch, folks. The NBA season is a couple of weeks from its conclusion, which means the awards race is in full effect. As players drag themselves to the 65-game mark to qualify (lookin' at you, Tyrese Haliburton), there is a stark lack of clarity across the board. We all know the relative favorites, but generally, there is more stone-cold certainty at this point in the season.

The door is wide open on the Sixth Man of the Year race. Sacramento Kings guard Malik Monk leads in Vegas, but he will also miss the remainder of the regular season due to injury. Maybe 72 productive games are enough to push him over the finish line, but the Kings face do-or-die circumstances in the final weeks of the season and Monk won't be around to help. The door is open.

Few awards are more difficult to adjudicate than Sixth Man of the Year. Too often it boils down to the highest scorer. That is sometimes fair, other times not fair. We tend to ignore the extremely impactful defenders or those who operate with absurd efficiency in more limited minutes (this applies to several players on the Oklahoma City Thunder bench). Does 18 minutes of A+ impact outweigh 28 minutes of B+ impact? Historically, in this category, no.

That doesn't mean we need to abide by such rules, though. The goal is simple, in theory — to locate the best non-starter in the NBA. He who most helps his team from the second unit, whether it's playing starters' minutes as a faux sixth man or locking up the opposition's best player for 20 minutes a night.

Here's a shot at the five who stand above the crowd.

Note: I'm DQ'ing players who have started at least 50 percent of games to date, so Duncan Robinson and Al Horford are ineligible (but could be re-eligible by season's end).

Honorable mentions: Tim Hardaway Jr., Jaime Jaquez Jr., Bennedict Mathurin, Amen Thompson, Aaron Wiggins, Isaiah Joe, Jost Hart, Deuce McBride, Caris LeVert

NBA Awards Rankings: Sixth Man of the Year candidates

13.4 PPG | 7.2 RPG | 1.2 APG | .501 FG% | .391 3P% | .783 FT%

We know the drill with Bobby Portis by now. The dude will stare into his opponents' souls with those piercing eyes, then rough 'em up a bit. He's one of the most physical players in the NBA, and that's part of what makes him so enjoyable to watch. Portis isn't even a particularly great defender, but he throws his weight around and sets the tone for the Milwaukee Bucks' second unit. That is an underrated aspect of great bench players — they set the tone.

Milwaukee has quietly (not so quietly?) been a mess since Doc Rivers arrived. Their record was far better under Adrian Griffin, even if it was less than pretty. Portis remains a critical piece to the puzzle, however, supplying invaluable floor-spacing at the five spot. He's converting 39.1 percent of his 3s, within striking distance of a career-high on 3.0 attempts per game.

Portis can also supply some value as a face-up scorer, using his muscular frame to carve out finishes near the basket. He's undersized at the five spot, listed at 6-foot-10 and 250 pounds, but Portis' job is to spark the offense while Brook Lopez finishes games anchoring the paint. Portis' flexibility to play next to Lopez and Giannis Antetokounmpo helps his case. He manages to fit his skill set in various personnel groups.

Despite all their problems, Milwaukee is 47-27 with the inside track to the No. 2 seed in the East. Portis gets the "contributing for a contender" bump.

13.1 PPG | 5.1 RPG | 1.3 APG | .477 FG% | .407 3P% | .762 FT%

Aptly nicknamed 'Big Jelly' according to Basketball-Reference, Naz Reid has meaningfully elevated his stock this season. The Minnesota Timberwolves are starting two All-Star centers in Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns, and yet Reid still manages to steal 24.0 minutes per game. It's a credit to his winning impact.

The root of Reid's appeal is rather simple: at 6-foot-9, he can spread the floor without sacrificing too much on defense. He's undersized for the five spot, but it serves him just fine in the sixth-man role. Reid generally shares the floor with ample size and length in Minnesota, while his offensive contributions shine through. He's chucking more 3s than ever (5.0 attempts), which opens up his robust face-up game.

Reid entered the league as a sort of quasi-point center, famed for his ability to push the rock in transition and create off of rollicking drives at LSU. He has streamlined his approach since entering the league, but Minnesota still allows him to uncork a few tight dribble moves and attack downhill. Combining sharp footwork and overwhelming strength, Reid is a handful to contain once he has momentum toward the basket.

While not the prodigious playmaker some thought he might become, Reid offers some passing equity in the frontcourt, too. His ability to defend reasonably well in space has allowed Minnesota to pair him with Gobert or Towns, opening up more minutes and clearing the pathway to consideration for this award.

14.0 PPG | 2.6 RPG | 1.1 APG | .495 FG% | .436 3P% | .825 FT%

The Los Angeles Clippers' downward spiral shouldn't disqualify Norman Powell, who has been on a heater essentially since the calendar flipped to 2024. While Russell Westbrook tends to garner the "sixth man" label in LA, Powell is the most productive and impactful bench cog in the Clippers' lineup. He deserves real consideration for this award.

Powell's value is relatively straightforward. He's a talented scorer who operates with tremendous efficiency. That has been Powell's M.O. for virtually his entire career. He won't create much for teammates, and he's not an all-world defender, but the dude can fill it up. He is, in many ways, the classic Sixth Man of the Year candidate.

Listed at 6-foot-3, Powell deserves immense credit for his three-level proficiency as a scorer. He's bombing 3s at a high clip (5.0 attempts in 26.1 minutes per game), but he also puts pressure on the rim and uses his strength to finish through contact. Powell can bury pull-up jumpers coming around screens, he's a bursty downhill threat, and defenses are constantly aware of him behind the 3-point line. His presence as an ancillary scorer next to LA's primary offensive fulcrums opens up a ton for the Clippers' offense.

If there's a knock on Powell, it's his lack of contributions beyond the scoring department. He's fairly single-minded in his approach, though one would be misguided to call him a shot-chucker. Powell understands his role within the offense and executes it to perfection, spacing out to the 3-point line and torching rotating defenses who fail to properly seal off the lane.

17.0 PPG | 3.5 RPG | 3.1 APG | .431 FG% | .378 3P% | .921 FT%

Bogdan Bogdanovic has been a steadying force for the Atlanta Hawks during an unpleasant season. In the face of injuries to key pieces, most notably Trae Young, Bogdanovic has been able to scale up and down to fit Atlanta's needs. In terms of raw production, few candidates are in the same ballpark.

It's not difficult to decipher what makes Bogdanovic special. He's a deadeye shooter on healthy volume, offering true versatility within Quin Snyder's inventive scheme. Bogey can run off screens and stretch the defense with off-ball movement, or he can work pick-and-rolls and bury the defense with pull-up jumpers. His tempo and precision as a passer get underrated. Bogdanovic doesn't have the twitchy athleticism to score prodigiously in isolation, but he's a real playmaker who can thrive in a combo guard role next to Atlanta's primary initiators.

He's not much of a defender, but at 6-foot-5, Bogdanovic supplies enough positional size to avoid the status of easy pickings. He's averaging 30.3 minutes per game — it almost feels like cheating to call him a sixth man — but the Hawks lean on Bogdanovic a lot, and he has been especially important as a fill-in for the injured Trae Young in recent weeks. The ability to step up and start in a pinch matters in this race, so long as one doesn't become the regular starter by default.

We can bemoan the Hawks' below-.500 record, but in the end, Bogdanovic's individual contributions far outweigh the inferiority of his circumstances. He can't be held responsible for the shoddy team around him, and the Hawks would look far worse without Bogey in the mix. So, he has earned a real shot at the hardware.

15.4 PPG | 2.9 RPG | 5.1 APG | .443 FG% | .350 3P% | .829 FT%

Malik Monk will finish the season with 72 games played. The injury sucks, and it is unfortunate timing for the Kings. That said, it shouldn't impact the voting too much. Monk has qualified based on the new CBA and in the end, 10 games missed puts him right on pace with the majority of other contenders for this award.

It has been a truly spectacular season for Monk, who broke out in the 2023 playoffs (despite the Kings' all-too-brief run). Now entrenched as one of the league's premier bench guards, Monk has been the driving force behind Sacramento's second unit. De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis get the majority of the credit for the Kings, and deservedly so, but Monk has worked hard to hone his craft and expand his skill set.

Once a gunner through and through, Monk has diversified his output considerably. He's averaging a career-high in assists without experiencing a sharp increase in turnovers (2.1). Monk is, for all intents and purposes, the Kings' backup point guard, initiating sets and using his gravity as a shooter and slasher to create for teammates.

Still, Monk is also a tremendous volume scorer. He's a dynamic 3-point shooter, whether it's running off of screens or pulling up in traffic. He has a real penchant for difficult shots under pressure, making him a legitimate go-to weapon in clutch moments. Monk can finish acrobatically around the rim, evading rim protectors with scooping layups or feather-soft floaters. He is a legitimate three-level scorer on solid efficiency, in addition to his playmaking equity. If he wins the award as expected, it will be well-deserved.