Seven years have flown by running the Alternative Awards: 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 & 2025 as well as a historical retrospective! Now presenting your candidates for the only awards that matter, the 2026 Alternative NBA Awards!

New note for this year: as I’ve incorporated some people’s award suggestions year-over-year, the post has gotten a bit unwieldy (I can’t even edit if there’s a mistake because I get a “more than 10000 characters” error, so I have to double & triple-check before posting). Therefore, I’m splitting into two parts, with Part 2 being posted tomorrow morning before the play-ins!

*For the awards with an asterisk, there were no stat-trackers that I found, so I had to scrape them myself. Here’s the GitHub link for that (a mix of Python and R)!

The Real Sixth Man of the Year (presented by Brent Barry)*

players who are between sixth and ninth on their team in minutes played per game, must have played 50% of team’s games and started less than 50% of games (credit to KokiriEmerald for the reasoning behind re-implementing the starting criteria)

By PPG:

Brice Sensabaugh (14.9)
Naz Reid (13.6)
Tim Hardaway Jr. (13.5)
Keldon Johnson (13.2)
Malik Monk (12.5)

By VORP:

Sandro Mamukelashvili (2.1)
Luke Kornet (2.0)
Kel’el Ware (1.8)
Isaiah Joe (1.7)
Mitchell Robinson (1.6)

The Deadshot Award (presented by Ray Allen & Reggie Miller)

best qualifying 3 point percentage, minimum 82 3PM (Basketball-Reference)

Luke Kennard (47.8%)
Bobby Portis (45.6%)
Cam Spencer (44.9%)
Jaylon Tyson (44.6%)
Rui Hachimura (44.3%)

The Stormtrooper Award

worst qualifying 2 point percentage, minimum 300 FGM (Basketball-Reference)

Bub Carrington (44.3%)
Collin Gillespie (45.5%)
Jarace Walker (46.2%)
LaMelo Ball (46.4%)
Jeremiah Fears (48%)

The Most Ethical Scorer Award (sponsored by Immanuel Kant)*

lowest percentage of points from free throws, minimum 15 PPG and 70% of games played (credit to adc1369 & yeahright17 for the idea)

player	FTM/G	PPG	FT/G % of PPG
Nikola Vučević	1.20	15.08	7.98%
Payton Pritchard	1.53	17.03	9.00%
Ryan Rollins	1.69	17.31	9.76%
LaMelo Ball	2.24	20.07	11.14%
Andrew Wiggins	1.87	15.37	12.15%

The Least Ethical Scorer Award (sponsored by ~~Enron~~ ~~Aspiration~~ no one)*

highest percentage of points from free throws, minimum 15 PPG and 70% of games played (credit to Banichi-aiji & yeahright17 for the idea)

player	FTM/G	PPG	FT/G % of PPG
Deni Avdija	7.41	24.21	30.60%
Paolo Banchero	6.35	22.21	28.58%
James Harden	6.61	23.60	28.03%
Devin Booker	7.09	26.06	27.22%
DeMar DeRozan	4.86	18.43	26.36%

The “If He Dies, He Dies” Award (presented by Tom Thibodeau, sponsored by Ivan Drago)

most minutes played per game, minimum 70% of games played (Basketball-Reference) (credit to FurryCrew for the idea)

Tyrese Maxey (38)
Amen Thompson (37.4)
Kevin Durant (36.4)
Luka Doncic (35.8)
Trey Murphy III (35.5)

alternatively: most total minutes played (Basketball-Reference) (credit to FrankEMartindale for the idea)

Amen Thompson (2953)
Kevin Durant (2840)
Desmond Bane (2756)
Toumani Camara (2731)
Jabari Smith Jr (2705)

The Black Hole Award*

most FGAs per assist, minimum 50% of games played (credit to Moose4KU for the idea)

player	FGA	AST	FGA/AST
Khaman Maluach	105	6	17.5000
Rasheer Fleming	215	16	13.4375
Nick Richards	201	16	12.5625
Julian Phillips	121	10	12.1000
Kel’el Ware	649	56	11.5893

The Hot Potato Award*

least FGAs per assist, minimum 50% of games played (credit to Moose4KU for the idea & ajayod for the name)

player	FGA	AST	FGA/AST
Jamal Shead	504	444	1.1351
Davion Mitchell	533	453	1.1766
Isaiah Collier	515	423	1.2175
Ryan Nembhard	390	316	1.2342
Craig Porter Jr.	258	205	1.2585

The Most Expendable Player Award (sponsored by the National Basketball Referees Association)

highest personal fouls per 36 minutes, minimum 50% games played & 12 minutes/game (credit to PsychoM & BrightGreenLED for the idea)

Dylan Cardwell (6.3903)
Isaiah Jackson (5.8282)
Jonas Valanciunas (5.4971)
Dwight Powell (5.2965)
Luka Garza (5.1843)

The “Weakest Link” Award (sponsored by Jack Link’s Beef Jerky, presented by the 2015 Atlanta Hawks Starting 5)*

best worst starter by VORP (must have started 50% of a team’s games, team must have at least 3 qualifying players) (credit to memeticengineering for the idea)

OG Anunoby (2.3)
Moussa Diabate & Brandon Miller (1.8)
Tobias Harris & Duncan Robinson (1.5)

The “This Game Has Always Been, And Will Always Be, About Buckets” Award*

highest points as percentage of counting stats (rebounds, assists, steals, blocks), minimum 70% of games played

player	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	Points as % of Other Stats
Gary Trent Jr.	8.1	1	1.2	0.5	0	75.00%
Norman Powell	21.7	3.5	2.5	1.1	0.2	74.83%
Tim Hardaway Jr.	13.5	2.6	1.4	0.5	0.1	74.59%
Klay Thompson	11.7	2.1	1.4	0.5	0.3	73.13%
Anthony Edwards	28.8	5	3.7	1.4	0.8	72.54%

The Empty Calorie Stats Award (sponsored by Pop-Tarts)*

highest percentile rank within position in usage, descending VORP, descending TS% (minimum 50% of games played and 10 minutes/game) (credit to eewap for the idea)

player	True Shooting %	Usage %	VORP	TS Positional Percentile Rank	Usage Positional Percentile Rank	VORP Positional Percentile Rank	Sum of Positional Percentiles
Yang Hansen	41.30%	19.9	-0.6	100.00%	75.71%	98.57%	274.29%
Ousmane Dieng	51.60%	19.7	-0.5	98.57%	74.29%	97.14%	270.00%
Nikola Jović	48.00%	21.4	-0.3	100.00%	76.56%	92.19%	268.75%
Ben Saraf	48.60%	21	-1.2	94.68%	75.53%	95.74%	265.96%
Cam Thomas	53.00%	30.3	-0.7	81.91%	95.74%	87.23%	264.89%

The “Can’t Win With These Cats” Award (sponsored by Scar from The Lion King, presented by Kevin Durant in a fake mustache)*

biggest difference in on/off splits in weighted average with and without best (minimum 50% of games played and 10 minutes/game) (credit to eewap for the idea)

player	team	Net Plus Minus per 100 Poss	Team Avg NPM per 100 Poss With	Team Avg NPM per 100 Poss Without	NPM Difference
Kawhi Leonard	LAC	14.5	1.01	-0.80	1.81
Nikola Jokić	DEN	13.5	0.89	-0.82	1.71
Victor Wembanyama	SAS	16	3.56	1.94	1.62
Ryan Rollins	MIL	8.5	0.17	-1.35	1.51
Lauri Markkanen	UTA	9.4	-0.12	-1.57	1.45

The “Anchors Aweigh” Award (presented by Ron Burgundy)*

biggest difference in on/off splits in weighted average with and without worst (minimum 50% of games played and 10 minutes/game) (credit to eewap for the idea)

player	team	Net Plus Minus per 100 Poss	Team Avg NPM per 100 Poss With	Team Avg NPM per 100 Poss Without	NPM Difference
Royce O’Neale	PHO	-11	0.33	2.17	-1.84
Gary Trent Jr.	MIL	-9	0.17	1.60	-1.43
Tre Mann	CHO	-19.8	0.66	2.06	-1.40
Jaylen Brown	BOS	-4.6	1.16	2.45	-1.29
Brandon Ingram	TOR	-5.9	0.55	1.79	-1.25

The Yoink Award (presented by the Pink Panther)*

highest ratio of stocks to defensive fouls per 36 minutes, minimum 50% of games played (credit to bedlam_au for the idea)

player	STL/36	BLK/36	Stocks/36	Def Fouls/36	Stock to Def Foul/36
Kawhi Leonard	2.11	0.47	2.57	1.16	2.22
Victor Wembanyama	1.27	3.80	5.07	2.47	2.05
Jordan McLaughlin	2.55	0.26	2.81	1.40	2.00
Al Horford	1.11	1.89	3.01	1.52	1.98
Robert Williams	1.25	3.11	4.36	2.46	1.77

The “I Would’ve Gotten Away With It If It Wasn’t For You Darn Kids” Award (presented by the Scooby Doo Rogues Gallery)*

lowest ratio of stocks to defensive fouls per 36 minutes, minimum 50% of games played (credit to bedlam_au for the idea)

player	STL/36	BLK/36	Stocks/36	Def Fouls/36	Stock to Def Foul/36
Tony Bradley	0.48	0.56	1.04	4.32	0.24
Jamison Battle	0.49	0.21	0.70	2.79	0.25
Jaden Hardy	0.64	0.24	0.88	3.45	0.26
A.J. Green	0.62	0.13	0.75	2.78	0.27
Jalen Wilson	0.92	0.08	1.01	3.39	0.30

The Spark Plug Award (sponsored by Lt. Surge, presented by American Express CEO Stephen J Squeri)

Most charges drawn per 36 minutes, minimum 70% of games played (credit to morron88 for the idea to separate charges & loose balls)

Jaylin Williams (0.4792)
Marcus Smart (0.4070)
Jalen Brunson (0.4031)
Dru Smith (0.3813)
Brandin Podziemski (0.3549)

The Most Loose Balls Recovered Award (sponsored by Hungry Hungry Hippos, presented by Dennis Rodman & Nene’s doctor)

Per 36 minutes, minimum 70% of games played

Josh Okogie (1.2684)
Cedric Coward (1.2165)
Javonte Green (1.2101)
Ausar Thompson (1.1772)
Paul Reed (1.1704)

The Plexiglass Award

most deflections per 36 minutes, minimum 70% of games played

Dru Smith (6.2277)
Ausar Thompson (6.0190)
Jordan Goodwin (5.9542)
Cason Wallace (5.9472)
Javonte Green (5.2185)

The Wes Unseld Memorial Brick Wall Award

most points generated by screen assists per 36 minutes, minimum 70% of games played

Luke Kornet (13.1916)
Luka Garza (12.5161)
Neemias Queta (12.4486)
Oso Ighodaro (12.2058)
Marvin Bagley III (12.1998)

The “He Trick Y’All, Running Around, Doing Nothing” Award (sponsored by Russell Westbrook, presented by Tony Snell)*

Lowest average of per-36 percentile ranks in the following: charges, contested shots, deflections, defensive boxouts, defensive loose balls recovered (minimum 50% of games played)

Player	Contested 2-Pt Shot Percentile	Contested 3-Pt Shot Percentile	Deflections Percentile	Charges Percentile	Defensive Loose Balls Recovered Percentile	Defensive Boxouts percentile	Average of Percentiles
Caleb Love	5.26%	17.73%	35.73%	21.61%	5.82%	6.09%	15.37%
Klay Thompson	22.71%	11.91%	2.22%	21.61%	34.90%	5.26%	16.44%
Gary Trent Jr.	0.83%	0.28%	59.28%	21.61%	15.51%	8.03%	17.59%
Tre Johnson	18.56%	18.84%	30.75%	21.61%	6.09%	17.17%	18.84%
Tyus Jones	0.55%	7.20%	44.60%	21.61%	22.16%	17.45%	18.93%

a look at another relevant player

Player	Contested 2-Pt Shot Percentile	Contested 3-Pt Shot Percentile	Deflections Percentile	Charges Percentile	Defensive Loose Balls Recovered Percentile	Defensive Boxouts percentile	Average of Percentiles
Russell Westbrook	1.66%	2.77%	64.82%	21.61%	84.21%	3.32%	29.73%

The “Got that Dawg in Him” Award (presented by Air Bud)*

Highest average of per-36 percentile ranks in the following: charges, contested shots, deflections, defensive boxouts, defensive loose balls recovered (minimum 50% of games played) (credit to memeticengineering for the idea)

Player	Contested 2-Pt Shot Percentile	Contested 3-Pt Shot Percentile	Deflections Percentile	Charges Percentile	Defensive Loose Balls Recovered Percentile	Defensive Boxouts percentile	Average of Percentiles
Paul Reed	94.46%	91.97%	98.06%	63.43%	79.36%	87.26%	85.76%
Mouhamed Gueye	78.12%	85.60%	92.52%	74.79%	78.95%	91.41%	83.56%
Dwight Powell	88.92%	30.47%	83.66%	95.29%	98.06%	94.18%	81.76%
Kyshawn George	74.24%	92.80%	72.58%	91.69%	76.18%	71.47%	79.82%
Jakob Poeltl	85.04%	61.22%	85.87%	75.35%	72.58%	95.01%	79.18%

The BBQ Chicken Award (presented by Shaquille O’Neal)

worst isolation defenders by points saved compared to league average (0.93 PPP), min 10 MPG & 10 possessions (credit to TitanTigers & RTLT512 for the idea)

Player	Possessions	Points Per Possession Allowed	Points Saved Above League Avg
Thomas Bryant	28	2.071	-31.968
Kelly Oubre Jr.	43	1.395	-20.023
Spencer Jones	67	1.224	-19.710
Patrick Williams	45	1.356	-19.163
Pascal Siakam	78	1.154	-17.483

The Rotisserie Chicken Award (sponsored by Costco)

worst PNR ball handler defenders by points saved compared to league average (0.878 PPP), min 10 MPG & 10 possessions (credit to RTLT512 & altu_0002 for the idea)

Player	Possessions	Points Per Possession Allowed	Points Saved Above League Avg
Ben Sheppard	165	1.255	-62.049
Miles Bridges	270	1.052	-46.807
Maxime Raynaud	413	0.983	-43.182
Jaden McDaniels	457	0.969	-41.528
Jusuf Nurkić	207	1.077	-41.152

The “Would You Mind Coming with Us, Sir?” Award (sponsored by the TSA, presented by Paul Blart)

worst screen defenders by points saved compared to league average (0.978 PPP), min 10 MPG & 10 possessions (credit to blackjack_trial for the idea)

Player	Possessions	Points Per Possession Allowed	Points Saved Above League Avg
Miles Bridges	52	1.250	-14.139
Moses Moody	36	1.361	-13.789
Isaiah Collier	30	1.400	-12.657
Nolan Traore	18	1.667	-12.394
Gary Harris	15	1.800	-12.329

The Trickshot Grenadier Award (presented by Dude Perfect)*

Highest average of percentile ranks in FGA, FGA frequency & eFG% on shots with 4 seconds or less on the shotclock (minimum 50th percentile in FGA) (credit to BehavioralSink & Bylanta for the idea)

Player	FGA Frequency	FGA	eFG%	FGA Freq Percentile	FGA Percentile	eFG % Percentile	Average of Percentiles
Kevin Porter Jr.	16.90%	87	54.60%	95.99%	92.81%	83.79%	90.86%
Payton Pritchard	18.80%	206	49.30%	97.45%	100.00%	68.58%	88.68%
Brandin Podziemski	13.10%	110	52.30%	86.70%	97.36%	78.23%	87.43%
Jalen Brunson	11.10%	163	53.70%	78.69%	99.27%	82.33%	86.76%
Josh Hart	17.10%	101	47.50%	96.54%	95.72%	64.30%	85.52%

The “Imma Make ‘Em Both” Award (presented by Diar DeRozan & Grant Williams)*

biggest decline from non-clutch FT% to clutch FT%, min 15 clutch FTA (credit to Necessary_Career_253 for the idea and midnightgreen29 for the name)

Player	Clutch FTA	Clutch FT%	Non-Clutch FT%	Differential
Reed Sheppard	15	60.00%	84.51%	-24.51%
Donovan Clingan	17	47.06%	69.89%	-22.83%
Victor Wembanyama	38	63.16%	84.47%	-21.31%
Karl-Anthony Towns	16	68.75%	86.50%	-17.75%
Pascal Siakam	22	54.55%	70.22%	-15.68%

The “Ice, Ice, Baby” Award (sponsored by Hisense, presented by Vanilla Ice)*

biggest improvement from non-clutch FT% to clutch FT%, min 15 clutch FTA

Player	Clutch FTA	Clutch FT%	Non-Clutch FT%	Differential
De’Aaron Fox	21	95.24%	74.22%	21.02%
Luka Dončić	21	90.48%	77.56%	12.91%
Julius Randle	22	90.91%	79.75%	11.16%
Miles Bridges	23	91.30%	81.30%	10.00%
Jarrett Allen	19	78.95%	70.25%	8.70%

The “Paint Allergy” Award*

players with the highest percentage of shots from outside the paint, minimum 150 FGA & minimum 50% of games played (credit to frosiano for the original idea of highest percentage of 3FGA of total FGA, and to Drummallumin for the revised idea of all shots outside of 15 feet)

Nicolas Batum (98.74%)
AJ Green (93.85%)
Sam Hauser (91.01%)
Klay Thompson (87.77%)
Gabe Vincent (86.11%)

The “Lumberjack” Award (sponsored by Paul Bunyan)*

players w/highest % of shots from inside paint: max height of 6’3”, min 150 FGA & minimum 50% of games played (credit to Drummallumin for the idea)

Tre Jones (75.2%)
Gary Payton II (68.43%)
Brandon Williams (64.34%)
Jeremiah Fears (59.74%)
Craig Porter Jr (57.36%)

The “FUCK OUTTA HERE, I GOT THAT SHIT” Award (presented by Carmelo Anthony)

Lowest contested rebound percentage, minimum 50% of games played

Tyus Jones (9%)
Jordan McLaughlin (11.5%)
Immanuel Quickley (12%)
Jevon Carter & Luke Kennard (12.8%)

alternatively: restricting to players > 6 foot 6 inches in height

Sam Hauser (19.5%)
Jarace Walker (19.6%)
Dillon Brooks (21%)
Egor Demin (21.2%)
Anthony Black (21.6%)

The “Glass Cleaner” Award (presented by Dennis Rodman, sponsored by Windex)

Highest contested rebound percentage, minimum 50% of games played

Luka Garza (61.6%)
Mitchell Robinson (60.7%)
Ryan Kalkbrenner (59.8%)
Clint Capela (57.4%)
Jakob Poeltl (56.5%)

alternatively: restricting to players < 6 foot 7 inches in height

Zion Williamson (49.6%)
Jaylen Clark (48.2%)
Andrew Wiggins (43.2%)
Julian Phillips (41.3%)
Keldon Johnson (40.5%)

The “Fine, I’ll Do It Myself” Award (sponsored by Thanos, presented by Allen Iverson)

Highest percentage of unassisted field goals as portion of total field goals, minimum 50% of games played

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (80.3%)
James Harden (75.4%)
Luka Doncic (72.2%)
Jalen Brunson (68.9%)
TJ McConnell (66.5%)

The “You Gotta Feed Me” Award (presented by Joey Chestnut & Marcin Gortat)

Highest percentage of assisted field goals as portion of total field goals, minimum 50% of games played & 1 FGM per game

Nicolas Batum (99%)
Jaylin Williams (96.6%)
Sam Hauser (92.9%)
Vit Krejci (92.2%)
Jamison Battle (91.9%)

What are some other awards you’d like to see? Feel free to give me feedback on my choices, and Part 2 will drop tomorrow morning!

Skank_hunt42 | Thunder

30 | 4 hours ago

God I loved this post last year. Thanks for putting it together again.

Paint allergy award should be sponsored by Sherwin-Williams, presented by Melo.

donniedarko4141 | Knicks

21 | 3 hours ago

Does that shit say 80.3%? And he averaged 31 on .665 true shooting?

Zeeron1 | Thunder

8 | 2 hours ago

I promise you, it doesn’t feel any realer watching him actually do it in the games either. It’s just stupid levels of self-created efficiency

vindictivejazz | Thunder

1 | an hour ago

It does indeed!

PrimeTimeInc | Hornets

17 | 4 hours ago

Tre Mann with the -20 per 100. Look what they’ve done to my boy 😭

Piano9717 | POR

11 | 4 hours ago

My favorite post every year! Awesome work, can’t wait to read it.

9 | 3 hours ago

²⁄₅ of the “If he dies, he dies” award are currently injured. 😭

NitroXYZ | UTA

6 | 4 hours ago

Always look forward to this post every year, can’t wait to sit down and read it fully at breakfast tomorrow. Thanks for your fun contributions to the subreddit!

Interesting_Book_759

8 | 4 hours ago

I want to see the triple double cocaine bear award

Due-Dance-9430 | Spurs

shoutout ryan rollins, on the same list as all stars and top 5 players in the league lol

Colorapt0r | Bucks

1 | 2 minutes ago

That’s because he IS a top 5 player in the league

DuckDucks | Knicks

5 | 3 hours ago

Jokic has his best supporting cast ever and is still second in “Fine I’ll do it myself” lol

7 | 3 hours ago

I think you mean “Can’t win with these cats” award. lol

1 | 3 hours ago

Oops yep!

Justalittlejewish | Celtics

5 | 2 hours ago

This is awesome. Some things I found interesting, in order:

Pritchard being 6’1” and being 2nd in the “ethical scorer” category is insane, especially considering how good he is at ISOing and scoring in the paint. You’d think he’d be going for calls but nope, dude just gets buckets.

Brown being at 4th in “Anchors Aweigh” is sure to spark some incredibly nuanced and thoughtful discussion lmao.

The Celtics having the 2nd and 3rd players for the screen assists award is extremely interesting and as someone who’s watched nearly every game, checks out. Those 2 are monster screen setters and in different ways - Queta gets out super quick and is a rim running threat, while Garza operates more in the pick and pop (though he can play in the roll). And Kornet is number 1! Idk what the Celtics development staff is teaching these bigs but at this point they’re practically cranking out elite screening centers.

Pritchard being 2nd in trickshot grenadier while having 43 more attempts than anyone else on the list is fucking ridiculous. PP is truly one of those players who has just built his own path to success in terms of build and playstyle.

Garza being 1sr for glass cleaner is awesome to see, that dude is an absolute workhorse and his motor just never shuts off. His offensive rebounding has been so massive for us this year.

Pagliaccio13 | 76ers

3 | 4 hours ago

I like when the eye test and expectations matches the data. BBall Paul winning got that dawg in him award just feels right

Complex_Evidence_764 | Rockets

4 | 3 hours ago

Maybe players with the most 2nd chance points award? Sponsored by Steven Adams.

Great post btw, thanks!

Kyler1313

3 | 3 hours ago

Top 3 guys in screen assists are 2 Celtics and 1 former Celtic 1 year removed.

Come to Boston and they will teach you how to screen.

ubernuke | Lakers

Love this post every year, the blend of humor and well-researched stats can’t be beat. Thanks for putting in all the time it takes to put this together!

SAguilar23 | Spurs

3 | 2 hours ago

This is gold! Thanks for the work putting this together!

WeBelieveIn4 | Raptors

2 | 3 hours ago

Amazing as always

Its_Hoggish_Greedly | Kings

He may foul a lot, but Cardwell is hardly expendable. We’d all die for that dude.

Haberdashery2000

Vucevic winning ethical hooper is hilarious. Should also qualify him for the Stay-Puft Marshmellow Man Award for Least Physical Center.

Also is still hilarious that the Cinderella Pacers had their run last year with the two oafiest centers in the league, Thomas Bryant and Tony Bradley, getting not-insignificant minutes.

Ok-Tree4365

2 | 2 hours ago

Great work.

Isaiah Jackson’s fouls/36 minutes rate is truly insane.

Totnostu

Favorite post of the year on this sub, glad to see it still rolling.

Can’t think of a more perfect match than Paul Reed for the He Got That Dog award

Tre Jones really has been a monster at attacking the rim, literally the only guy I enjoyed watching play for the Bulls this year

Miles Bridges being on both the worst pnr ball handler defender and worst screen defender lists is notable

Both Suns rookie bigs being at the top of the Black Hole award is interesting, especially since it feels like Oso and Mark Williams are involved in passing a lot. Just a coincidence?

Feel like Luka Garza is on here a lot

There’s been some talk about how insanely underrated Queta is and how well he’s played this year, but Garza has also been incredibly impactful for the Cs. His offensive rebounding ability it pretty damn elite and he just gives 110% effort every second he’s on the court. He and Queta are also 2 of the best screeners in the league, they’re genuinely a pretty great frontcourt.

EarthWarping | NBA

2 | an hour ago

Shead as #1 on the hot potato scale tracks.

WD51 | Spurs

Top 3 in black hole award being Phoenix Suns centers is kind of hilarious (although they let Richards go mid season he still played a sizable chunk of games with them this season). They have designated roles on offense.

jillavery | Nuggets

This should be upvoted to the moon. Thank you!

AlG9220 | Bulls

So Patrick Williams used to at least be a solid on ball defender. This season, he’s gotten noticeably worse, as evidenced by him being a terrible isolation defender (4th in the BBQ chicken awards). I was also surprised by how bad Siakam was in isolation defense (to be fair, he has to carry a large offensive load on a terrible team). Jaden McDaniels was also a surprising name to see as one of the worst PnR ball-handler defenders. His steal numbers are still pretty good, and though I always thought his defense was a bit overrated, his other defensive impact stats are at least above average.

Myndgrapes

1 | 31 minutes ago

Camara set the NBA record for drawing offensive fouls with 105 before the last game. Surprising not to see him in the list for Spark Plug.

Romofan88 | Spurs

1 | 4 hours ago

Wait Nicholas Batum is still in the NBA?

1 | 2 hours ago

74 games, 18 mpg this season. Often has the Wemby assignment.

Picklesbedamned

1 | 3 minutes ago

Awesome. Seeing three Rockets starters make the list of most total minutes played really underlines how injuries effected our ceiling in a big way.

[OC] The main awards have been debated to death, so let’s award some additional players (and groups) for their performances in Part 1 of the 2026 Alt NBA Awards!