An interesting name appeared in the voting results for the league’s Sixth Man of the Year award, as New York Knicks forward Bojan Bogdanovic received a third-place vote.
The award ultimately went to Minnesota Timberwolves forward Naz Reid, but it’s unlikely anyone expected a Knicks player to receive any kind of recognition for the award, especially after Immanuel Quickley’s mid-season departure.
Bogdanovic joined the Knicks at the trade deadline in February and wasn’t exactly the prototypical “sixth man” in Tom Thibodeau’s rotation. He often played in spurts and was usually not the first off the bench, and he also played several games with less than 10 minutes.
On top of that, Bogdanovic started 27 games for the Detroit Pistons this season before being traded to the Knicks, which obviously doesn’t meet the criteria for a reserve award.
He struggled mightily for much of the regular season as a member of the Knicks, averaging just 10.4 points, shooting 43 percent from the floor and owning a plus-minus of -95 in 29 games played for them, all away from the bench.