Kings' Malik Monk narrowly beat by Minnesota's Naz Reid for NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award
The Minnesota Timberwolves' Naz Reid narrowly beat out the Sacramento Kings' Malik Monk for the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award on Wednesday.
Reid got 45 first-place votes to 43 for Monk in a panel of voters. Both players had 39 second-place votes and 10 third-place votes, giving Reid a total of 352 points to Monk's 342. Milwaukee's Bobby Portis Jr. finished third.
Reid helped the Timberwolves overcome an injury to Karl-Anthony Towns to have one of the best seasons in franchise history.
Reid averaged career highs of 13.5 points and 5.2 rebounds in 81 games. The forward-center came off the bench 67 times and made 14 starts, including 12 when Towns was out late in the season. The Timberwolves finished 56-26 to earn the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference and have a 2-0 lead over the Phoenix Suns in their first-round series.
Monk averaged 15.4 points (career high), 2.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists (career high) in 72 games before suffering a sprained MCL that turned out to end his season with Sacramento failing to make the playoffs.
Monk's future with Sacramento has been the biggest question of the Kings' off-season. Monk, who is set to hit the free agency market, is expected to receive big offers from various teams around the league, with some projections having Monk earning around $100 million over four years.
Sacramento can only offer Monk around $78 million over four years.