A tough last few weeks has gotten even tougher for Sacramento Kings guard Malik Monk.
Monk, who was widely seen as the frontrunner for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award, ultimately lost out on the award to Minnesota’s Naz Reid. The NBA announced on Wednesday that Reid had won the closest-ever 6MOY vote under the current voting format.
Reid and Monk finished with nearly identical vote totals (with the difference being just two more first-place votes for Reid). Here is the full ballot total.
The 10-point difference between the first- and second-place finishers is the smallest margin in Kia NBA Sixth Man of the Year balloting under the current voting format, which began with the 2002-03 season. https://t.co/ABsbahTqKg
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 24, 2024
Monk reacted to the news of his snub in a post to his social media page. He commented with laughing and facepalm emojis on a post stating that he had become the first player in 35 years to lead the league in bench points in back-to-back years … without winning Sixth Man of the Year once.
— Malik Monk (@AhmadMonk) April 24, 2024
The former lottery pick Monk, who also lost out on the award last season to Malcolm Brogdon (then with Boston), averaged 15.4 points and 5.1 assists per game this year. That was better than Reid’s 13.5 points and 1.3 assists a game (though Reid was superior in rebounding and defensive statistics).
Voters may have been swayed by the fact that Reid anchored the second unit for a Minnesota team that won 56 games and earned a top-three seed in the West. Meanwhile, Monk’s Kings were a play-in team that ultimately failed to qualify for the playoffs. But that is still another rough break for Monk, who will be a free agent in the summer and saw his 2023-24 season end early because of an unlucky knee injury.
