Overview
- The NBA, which unveiled the lists Sunday on NBC’s playoff broadcast, named finalists for MVP, Rookie, Coach, Defensive Player, Sixth Man, Most Improved and Clutch awards.
- MVP finalists are Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder), Nikola Jokić (Nuggets) and Victor Wembanyama (Spurs), with Wembanyama also up for Defensive Player of the Year alongside Chet Holmgren and Ausar Thompson.
- The league’s other finalist groups include Clutch Player with Anthony Edwards, Gilgeous-Alexander and Jamal Murray, Sixth Man with Tim Hardaway Jr., Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Keldon Johnson, and Most Improved with Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Deni Avdija and Jalen Duren.
- Rookie of the Year finalists are Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and VJ Edgecombe, and Coach of the Year finalists are Joe Mazzulla, J.B. Bickerstaff and Mitch Johnson.
- Under the 65-game rule, the NBA granted exceptions to Luka Dončić and Cade Cunningham while denying Anthony Edwards for most awards, and winners begin rolling out this week starting with Defensive Player of the Year.