The first-ever NBA Awards show will be aired on TNT tonight, Monday, June 26th. Drake, a Canadian rapper, will host the show and the NBA will announce the winners of the various awards that the association hands out to individual athletes. Russell Westbrook is expected to win the MVP Award but both James Harden and Kawhi Leonard are candidates as well. The announcement of the MVP Award is certainly the 'main event' for the night, however, there are numerous other awards that will be announced as well.
NBA will announce the Rookie of the Year
In the Rookie of the Year category, there are three nominees. Those are Malcolm Brogdon of the Milwaukee Bucks, Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers, and Dario Saric also of Philadelphia. On paper, Joel Embiid looks like the most promising candidate as he averaged over 20 points per game and collected 7.8 boards per game during the season. However, he did appear in only 31 games while both Brogdon and Saric had a complete season in terms of appearances. Certainly, 31 games is a very limited total in a season that has 82 games.
In the Coach of the Year category, the nominees are Mike D'Antoni of the Houston Rockets, Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs, and Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat.
The latter team had a surprising season as they played .500 basketball when many thought that they would have a losing season. However, unlike Houston and San Antonio, the Heat did qualify for the playoffs. You have to wonder if Spoelstra will be the odd-one-out with the award going to either D'Antoni or Popovich here.
Many other awards to be announced on Monday night
Other awards that will be announced are numerous. There is the Sixth Man Award, the Most Improved Player Award, and the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. The Sixth Man Award is meant to recognize a player who did not start but provided the most excellent play in coming off of the bench. The Most Improved Player Award is meant to recognize the player who demonstrated a higher level of play in comparison to previous points in his career.
The Defensive Player Award is meant to recognize the player that shined the brightest on the defensive side of the court.
Players that are nominees for multiple categories are not numerous. However, Utah's Rudy Gobert is up for Defensive Player of the Year and Most Improved Player of the Year. Meanwhile, Kawhi Leonard is up for MVP and Defensive Player of the Year as well. The night promises to be historic as this is the inaugural show for the NBA Awards with the start time at 9 pm ET.