An interesting name appeared on the voting results for the league’s Sixth Man of The Year Award, as New York Knicks forward Bojan Bogdanovic received one third place vote.
The award ultimately went to Minnesota Timberwolves’ forward Naz Reid, but it is unlikely anybody expected a Knicks player to receive any sort of recognition for the award, especially after Immanuel Quickley’s departure midseason.
Bojan Bogdanovic struggled with the Knicks in the regular season
Bogdanovic came over to the Knicks at the trade deadline in February and wasn’t exactly the prototypical “sixth man” in Tom Thibodeau’s rotation. Oftentimes he would play in spurts and was usually not the first guy to come off of the bench, and also has several games with less than 10 minutes played.
On top of that, Bogdanovic started 27 games for the Detroit Pistons this season prior to being traded to the Knicks, which obviously doesn’t fit the criteria for an award meant for reserves.
He struggled mightily for a majority of the regular season as a member of the Knicks, as he averaged just 10.4 points, shot 43% from the floor, and owned a plus-minus of -95 in 29 games played for them, all of which off the bench.
Did the voters accidentally cast their vote for Bojan?
The unlikely appearance by Bogdanovic on the ballot has stirred up rumors by fans that the vote was meant for Atlanta Hawks forward Bogdan Bogdanovic (no relation to Bojan), who finished fifth on the ballot and received four first-place votes, but was mistakenly given to Bojan.
Looking at other awards, no Knicks players were listed as finalists for any of the major awards. It will be interesting to see if any other players receive votes for them, whether they were truly deserving or the result of an egregious error.
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