Here's my unofficial 2024-25 NBA Awards ballot

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The regular season is over and the playoffs are around the corner. That means awards season is also on the cusp. The NBA will announce its finalists for seven awards on Sunday during a weekend filled with Game 1 action in the First Round of the 2025 playoffs.

The Oklahoma City Thunder could have a few finalists for the awards. They'll for sure have one for the MVP race in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He'll have a good chance to capture the trophy this season after finishing runner-up last year.

100 media members vote for the awards. Each NBA market gets at least one vote. While Thunder Wire doesn't have a vote, there is a mock ballot for the sake of a fun exercise:

MVP​

• 1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
• 2. Nikola Jokic
• 3. Giannis Antetokounmpo
• 4. Jayson Tatum
• 5. Donovan Mitchell

This one was easy. Gilgeous-Alexander ran away with the MVP award in the season's last month. He's the best player on the best team. He's enjoyed one of the most historic scoring campaigns in NBA history with an efficient 32.7 points on 51.9% shooting. Pair that with OKC's all-time dominance with a 68-14 record and the greatest point differential in league history, the question will be how many votes he wins by for the award.

Defensive Player of the Year​

• 1. Lu Dort
• 2. Evan Mobley
• 3. Draymond Green

The Thunder had the league's best defense this season. Any metric you want to use, they were surely at the top or near it. Looking at their place in history, a solid argument can be made that it's one of the greatest defenses ever. Their defensive style relied on causing chaos in the passing lanes and creating turnovers at a historic clip. They only gave up a handful of 30-point scorers this season, which goes back to Dort. He's the face of their defense. That should be rewarded.

Coach of the Year​

• 1. Mark Daigneault
• 2. Kenny Atkinson
• 3. Ime Udoka

This might be getting greedy at this point. Surely, the top three awards going to the Thunder means an obvious bias. Think again. They're fresh off arguably the greatest regular season campaign ever. Of course, they should have plenty of nominees for the yearly awards. Daigneault won Coach of the Year last year, he should be the rare repeat winner. It's usually given to the team with the highest win improvement. The Thunder went from 57 wins to 68 wins while juggling several injuries.

Rookie of the Year​

• 1. Zaccharie Risacher
• 2. Stephon Castle
• 3. Jaylen Wells

This is certainly not last year's Rookie of the Year race headlined by Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren. This year's batch of rookies is on the lighter side of things. Nobody stood out as a bona fide future All-Star. Instead, it was a bunch of middling prospects who had their ups and downs. Let's go with Risacher. He was a starter on a postseason team and found his groove the last three months of the season. It shouldn't be controversial to say the No. 1 pick should win this award.

Most Improved Player​

• Austin Reaves
• Ivica Zubac
• Dyson Daniels

To go from an undrafted rookie to a legitimate third option for a title contender. That type of career arc deserves some recognition. Doing it on the Lakers should only help Reaves' case, too. Most Improved Player usually takes into account multiple seasons, not just one. That said, what Reaves has done this year as a 20-point scorer on good efficiency behind LeBron James, Luka Doncic and Anthony Davis is one of the best developmental stories this decade. He's figured out how to draw fouls. That's the best way to skyrocket as a player.

Sixth Man of the Year​

• 1. Malik Beasley
• 3. Naz Reid
• 2. Payton Pritchard

A bench player's importance is a good rule of thumb for this award. Without Beasley's career season from the outside, the Pistons don't have the same level of success as they've had. He's a textbook microwave scorer as he averaged 16.3 points and shot 41.6% from 3 on 9.3 attempts. Detroit doesn't possess a clear-cut second-best player with a group effort after Cade Cunningham. His buckets are more important to their success than any other candidate.

Clutch Player of the Year​

• Anthony Edwards
• Jalen Brunson
• Nikola Jokic

Honestly forgot this award existed. I'll cheat and scour through the NBA's clutch stats. For reference, the league defines a clutch situation as a game within five points in the final five minutes of regulation. Edwards led the NBA in total points under that scenario with 157 in 160 minutes. Brunson was a whisker behind at 156 points, but in just 135 minutes. The Timberwolves played in more close games, so Edwards gets the edge because he was needed more.

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Here's my unofficial 2024-25 NBA Awards ballot

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