Jalen Johnson, Quin Snyder, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker Named Contenders For Pair of Major NBA Awards

Johnson and Alexander-Walker are going to make the Hawks a much better and much more versatile team, and should be up for some awards after the season.

In a recent ESPN poll, Alexander-Walker was picked to finish third in Sixth Man of the Year, Johnson was picked to finish fifth in Most Improved Player Voting, and Hawks head coach Quin Snyder was picked to finish second in Coach of the Year voting.

If the Hawks live up to expectations and go from a team outside of the playoff race to Eastern Conference contenders, Snyder is going to get a lot of attention for that and should be a prime contender for the award.

Alexander-Walker should be a very serious contender for Sixth Man of the Year.

Alexander-Walker appeared in 82 games (10 starts) for the Minnesota Timberwolves during the 2024-25 season, tallying 9.4 points, in addition to career high averages of 3.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists in a career-best 25.3 minutes per game (.438 FG%, .381 3FG%, .780 FT%). The 6-5 guard, who also appeared in all 82 games during the 2023-24 season, is one of only five players in the NBA to see action in every regular season game in each of the last two seasons, joining Harrison Barnes, Mikal Bridges, Jalen Green and Buddy Hield.

He netted 10-or-more points in a career-high 36 games during the 2024-25 campaign, including five contests with 20-or-more points. Alexander-Walker buried a career-best 141 three-pointers this past season, 125 of which were catch-and-shoot triples, per NBA.com/Stats. He owned a .425 3FG% on catch-and-shoot three-pointers during the 2024-25 season, the 10th-best clip in the league (min. 275 3FGA).

Big Season for Johnson?

Johnson has made huge strides for the Hawks the past couple of seasons, and I think it is possible that he could even surpass Trae Young as the best player on the team sooner rather than later. Our own Rohan Raman laid out the case in an article recently:

"If Johnson is an elite defender and rebounder (10+ rebounds per game) while being a great passer (6+ assists per game) and good scorer (20+ points per game), he'd have an argument for being the best player on the 2025-26 Hawks due to all-around impact. Trae might still have him beat due to his offensive gravity, but respectfully, there isn't a world where he's more than a neutral presence on defense. The potential for Johnson to be additive on defense is critical for both his future and the Hawks' ceiling next season.

The numbers bear out that Johnson already took a leap from the 2023-24 season to make himself into a solid defender. His secondary rim protection was better - he improved in rim points saved per 100 possessions, averaging 1.1 points saved (85th percentile) up from 0.4 (76th percentile) and opponents shot 7% worse at the rim due to his presence (82nd percentile). He also upped his steal numbers to 2 per game (82nd percentile) from 1.7 (72nd percentile). However, the biggest growth in his defense was in his efficacy on contesting shots as a perimeter defender last year. Despite his length and athleticism, Johnson actually hasn't been all that effective on closeouts for most of his career. Opponents barely shot worse when Johnson closed out on them - he finished in the 63rd percentile for FG% differential while closing out. That drastically changed in 2024-25. Opposing players shot 3.8% worse from the field when Johnson closed out on them, good for the 91st percentile among all forwards.

Suffice to say, it's ridiculous that Jalen Johnson would barely be considered a top-100 player in the NBA by any metric. He needs to stay healthy and he hasn't reached his potential yet, but there's a slim chance the Hawks have already found a worthy successor to Trae Young's mantle if Young leaves Atlanta next offseason."

If Johnson stays healthy, he could begin to make a case as an All-NBA player and perhaps the best player on the Hawks.

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