2024-25 NBA Awards: Final Unofficial Ballot, Picks

The 2024-25 NBA campaign has reached its conclusion, which means we'll soon know the final nominees and ultimate winners of all end-of-season hardware like Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, and Coach of the Year.

Now while we won't have an official ballot, that's not stopping us from sharing our own picks and projections as we shout out the efforts of those who excelled the most over these last 82 games and who deserves to be recognized for their efforts.

NBA Most Valuable Player Ballot

Honorable Mentions: Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers; LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers; Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors

This one’s been in the bag for sometime. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander just put forth one of the all-time greatest seasons by a guard in the history of the NBA. The Hamilton, Ontario native led the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Association’s best record, while leading the league in scoring at
32.7 points per game. Not only that, he scored with remarkable efficiency, shooting 51.9% from the field and 37.5% from beyond the arc. His true shooting percentage of 63.7% is wild for a guard.

SGA is the best player on the best team in the NBA. The NBA MVP award is his.

- Nick Holz

NBA Coach of the Year Ballot

Honorable Mentions: Mark Daigneault, Oklahoma City Thunder; JJ Redick, Los Angeles Lakers; Ty Lue, Los Angeles Clippers

It's difficult to steer away from J.B. Bickerstaff considering the job he's done in helping the Detroit Pistons right the ship from historically awful to a playoff team, but Kenny Atkinson was his replacement with the Cleveland Cavaliers and took a near identical roster to places it hadn't been since the LeBron James era. 

The Cavaliers led the Association in offense by averaging 121 points per 100 possessions, which is 1.5 points more than anyone else and an improvement of 6.3 points over last season with the core of the roster (Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen) still intact. 

- Chris Walder

NBA Rookie of the Year Ballot

Honorable Mentions: Jaylen Wells, Memphis Grizzlies; Alexandre Sarr, Washington Wizards; Yves Missi, New Orleans Pelicans

Stephon Castle came on strong with the San Antonio Spurs down the stretch. The UConn product averaged 17.8 points to go along with 4.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists per night from January to April for the mostly floundering Spurs.

In an underwhelming class of rookies, Castle’s star shone brightest.

- Nick Holz

NBA Defensive Player of the Year Ballot

Honorable Mentions: Jaren Jackson Jr., Memphis Grizzlies; Ivica Zubac, Los Angeles Clippers; Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors; Amen Thompson, Houston Rockets

Evan Mobley can switch one-through-five, and shut down even the greatest scorers in the NBA. He finished the year in the 95% in CraftedNBA’s adjusted defensive plus minus, and is a 93% rim defender. Opposing players shot just 44% from the field with Mobley as their primary defender, and he averaged 1.6 blocks and nearly a steal per game on the year.

Many have touted Draymond Green for this award, mostly on the back of a targeted PR campaign. While Green is a historically great defender, he didn’t have the impact on the Warriors that Mobley had defensively for the first-place Cavaliers this season. Team record should count for something.

- Nick Holz

NBA Most Improved Player Ballot

Honorable Mentions: Christian Braun, Denver Nuggets; Deni Avdija, Portland Trail Blazers; Austin Reaves, Los Angeles Lakers

Daniels more so fits the criteria of what this hardware is trying to acknowledge, as he's blossomed following his first two seasons with the New Orleans Pelicans to become "The Great Barrier Thief" with Atlanta and led all players across the Association at three steals per game. To put that number in perspective, two players tied for second place in that category at 1.8. 

The Hawks were willing to part with someone like De'Andre Hunter for depth pieces because the 21-year-old Australia native had developed so quickly and perhaps surprisingly. Daniels averaged 14.1 points per game and nearly doubled his total points from his first two years combined. That's a level of improvement which was unforeseen when compared to what someone like Cunningham accomplished in the Motor City.

- Chris Walder

NBA Sixth Man Of The Year Ballot

Honorable Mentions: Naz Reid, Minnesota Timberwolves; De'Andre Hunter, Cleveland Cavaliers; Alex Caruso, Oklahoma City Thunder

Pritchard had long been the favorite for good reason, averaging career highs across the board in points (14.3), rebounds (3.8), assists (3.5), steals (0.9), and 3-point efficiency (40.7) for the reigning champion Celtics who ranked 26th overall in bench scoring at 30.4 points per game. That means Pritchard accounted for nearly half of the offense being produced for the second unit of a team possessing the third-best win-loss record in basketball. 

The recipient of the award doesn't have to necessarily average the most points, as we've seen in recent years with winners like Naz Reid (13.5 points in 2023-24) and Malcolm Brogdon (14.9 in 2022-23). It's all about making an impact, and without Pritchard producing to the degree he is, even with Boston's superstar-loaded starting lineup, the team as a whole would have suffered.

- Chris Walder

NBA Clutch Player of the Year Ballot

Honorable Mentions: Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors; Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks, DeMar DeRozan, Sacramento Kings

It's not MVP, but it's still the recognition Nikola Jokic deserves. He had 140 total clutch points on 56.2 percent shooting while having converted 6-of-14 from 3-point range, and he's the only player with more than 50 rebounds (50) and at least 30 assists (36). His shooting efficiency is also far and away the highest of any player with at least 100 clutch points.

- Chris Walder

All-NBA First Team Ballot

All-NBA Second Team Ballot

All-NBA Third Team Ballot

All-NBA Defensive First Team

All-NBA Defensive Second Team

NBA All-Rookie First Team

NBA All-Rookie Second Team