NBA Sixth Man Of The Year: Jamal Crawford Of The Los Angeles Clippers

For the third time, the NBA Sixth Man of the Year is the Los Angeles Clippers’ Jamal Crawford. Crawford is the first NBA player to ever win the Sixth Man of the Year award three times, according to the NBA website. The Clippers’ guard averaged 14.2 points per game and 2.3 assists per game this season, his fourth in Los Angeles.

Jamal Crawford received 341 total points in the Sixth Man of the Year voting, with 51 first-place votes from a panel of 130 broadcasters and writers covering the NBA. The next closest player in the voting was Andre Iguodala of the Golden State Warriors, who had 288 points in the voting process. Enes Kanter was third in voting for the Sixth Man of the Year with 182 points, collecting 19 first-place votes along the way. Crawford’s teammate, DeAndre Jordan, recently finished fourth in the NBA Defensive Player of the Year voting.

In his 16th season in the NBA and at age 36, Jamal Crawford became the oldest player to win the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award, breaking his own record set two years ago when he won the honor at the age of 34. Only three other players have won the Sixth Man of the Year award more than once in the history of the league: Ricky Pierce, Detlef Schrempf, and Kevin McHale. But now Crawford, who also won the award with the Atlanta Hawks in 2010, is in company all his own as the only player to ever win the Sixth Man of the Year award three times.

Ironically, the 14.2 points per game is the lowest season-average Crawford has amassed in the three years he’s won the Sixth Man of the Year award, but Kanter tallied just 12.7 points a game, and Iguodala’s impact was felt in other facets of the game as he only averaged seven points per game. Iguodala’s second-place finish in the Sixth Man voting marked the second Warrior to become a runner-up in as many individual awards have been announced. Draymond Green finished second in the NBA Defensive Player of the Year voting behind Kawhi Leonard. Golden State should have the best odds of being represented, however, in the MVP voting as Stephen Curry remains the heavy favorite to repeat.

Jamal Crawford came off the Clippers’ bench in 74 of his 79 appearances, averaging 26.9 minutes in those games, aiding L.A. to a 53-29 record, their fourth straight season with 50 wins or more. En route to being named the Sixth Man of the Year, Crawford scored 15 points or more a total of 33 times. That was third in the NBA behind only Will Barton of the Denver Nuggets and Ryan Anderson of the New Orleans Pelicans. Crawford could also light it up when enlisted as a starter, torching the nets for 30 points or more in four of his five starts. His high watermark of 37 points came in a win over the Detroit Pistons in November.

The Los Angeles Clippers finished the regular season in second place in the Pacific Division, behind only the Warriors. Their 53 wins were good enough for a four-seed, and a first-round matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers. The 2015-16 NBA Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford helped steady the ship with Blake Griffin missing 45 games due to injury and suspension. Crawford was the team’s third-leading scorer in the games Griffin sat out.

Crawford is the fifth straight guard, and ninth out of the last 10 to win the Sixth Man of the Year Award. Lamar Odom won the honor after the 2010-11 season with the Los Angeles Lakers. Since Odom’s win, recent winners include James Harden, J.R. Smith and Lou Williams, in addition to Jamal Crawford. The NBA began handing out the Sixth Man of the Year Award in 1983, with Bill Walton of the Boston Celtics the only true center to ever take home the trophy.

[Photo by AP Photo/Rick Bowmer]