It has been a wild NBA season, the playoffs are underway and the 2022 season awards have been announced. 

Most Valuable Player, the most prestigious of those awards, went to the Denver Nuggets Nikola Jokic. This is Jokic’s second consecutive year of being named the NBA’s MVP, proving that he is one of the best on the court. 

Jokic led the Nuggets in almost every category with 31.0 points, 13.2 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and 1.6 steals. He is currently ranked as the second-ranked offensive player behind the Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic, along with being the fifth-ranked defensive player in the league. Other nominees include Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo. 

The NBA Rookie of the Year was a very close race throughout the entire season between Toronto’s Scottie Barnes, Cleveland’s Evan Mobely, and Detroit’s Cade Cunningham. But, it has been decided that the Raptors forward Barnes is the premier rookie of the 2021-22 NBA season. Barnes averaged 15.3 points and 7.5 rebounds during the regular season. He was able to make his way up to the top of the depth chart after being taken as the fourth pick in the NBA draft. 

The first guard to win the Defensive Player of the Year award since the 1995-1996 season, Boston’s Marcus Smart was selected as the winner of this award over Utah’s Rudy Gobert and Phoenix’s Mikal Bridges. The Celtics finished the regular season with the best defensive rating, only allowing an average of 104.5 points per game. They  also ranked second in blocked shots and fourth in rebounds. Smart was the key to that defense. 

The most obvious selection was the Sixth Man of the Year, awarded to the Miami Heat’s Tyler Herro. He averaged 20.7 points off the bench and shot 39.9 percent from 3-point range. He has also become the first Heat player to ever win this award. In the postseason alone, he is the third highest scorer without being in the starting lineup, and continues to show the Heat’s depth that lead them to the Eastern Conference’s number one seed in the playoffs. 

Although his season has fallen short to an injury in the playoffs, Memphis’ Ja Morant was awarded with the Most Improved Player award, winning over Cleveland’s Darius Garland and San Antonio’s Dejounte Murray, both who have also made huge strides this season. Morant led his team to the playoffs, averaging 27.4 points a game this season. 

To finish off the NBA awards, the Coach of the Year is the Phoenix Suns’ Monty Williams. The Suns had the best record in the league this season at 64-18, and are also the number one seed in the Western Conference. However, the Suns’ hopes of winning it all the season were dashed when they were bounced by Dallas in the second round. Other nominees for Coach of the Year were Toronto’s Taylor Jenkins and Miami’s Erik Spoelstra.