From undrafted on a two-way deal, to a multi-year extension, and now taking home some hardware. That’s Naz Reid’s journey through five seasons in the NBA.
The Minnesota Timberwolves big man was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year for the 2023-24 season, the league announced on Wednesday.
Reid, 24, is the first player in franchise history to take home Sixth Man of the Year honours and just the third undrafted player in the NBA to ever achieve such a feat. He joins John Starks (1996-97) and Darrell Armstrong (1998-99) as the only others do so.
The forward-center came off the bench 67 times, getting a feel for the game in the early minutes before getting his chance to impact it.
“I kind of joke around with my teammates a little bit, but it’s kind of a saying where I feel like we have to keep the momentum going, anyway,” Reid said in an interview on TNT after the award was announced. “Either we got to have the mentality to come back in the game, or to push the lead forward.”
In his fifth NBA season, Reid set career-high marks for points (13.5) and rebounds (5.2) while significantly improving his production from beyond the arc.
Reid’s best three-point shooting season previously was 35 per cent but in 2023-24 he hit an impressive 41 per cent of his attempts from deep. The stretch-five knocked down 169 three-pointers which was more than his previous two seasons combined (132).
With the steadiness of Reid off the pine, the Timberwolves finished the regular season with a 56-26 record, the second-best in franchise history, earning the No. 3 seed in the NBA playoffs.
In March, while Karl-Anthony Towns was hurt and missed an extended period, the Wolves hardly slowed down. They went 10-3 while Reid started 12 of the 13 games, averaging 17.1 points on 45.4 per cent shooting during that span.
Reid narrowly beat out Sacramento Kings guard Malik Monk for the award, taking home the trophy by a margin of 10 points or just two first-place votes.
Monk is the first player in 35 years to lead the NBA in scoring off the bench two years in a row without winning Sixth Man of the Year. Along with scoring production, Monk also led the NBA in second-unit assists and 25-point games.
Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis came in third.
Minnesota is currently up 2-0 on the Phoenix Suns in round one of the NBA Playoffs, looking to win a post-season series for the first time since 2004. They’ll return to action for Game 3 on Friday.
— with files from the Associated Press.
