NBA pundit Bill Simmons made a shocking revelation that he changed his NBA Award vote for Sixth Man of the Year due to postseason play. Voters are only meant to factor in regular season play when making their votes for each end of season award. The play-in games and playoffs are not supposed to be factored into award voting, but Simmons confirmed he let it impact his vote.
The following quote from Simmons revealed that he changed his Sixth Man of the Year vote from Jaime Jaquez Jr. to Keldon Johnson:
“The play-in did change my 6th Man of the Year vote. I (originally) had Jaquez over Keldon Johnson, but then Miami lost on Wednesday, and I was just like, ‘I’m going to have the 6MOY on a team that couldn’t get to the last round of the play-in?’ I switched it. That’s the league’s fault. They should’ve made us vote before the play-in game.”
Simmons confirmed that he originally viewed Jaquez as the Sixth Man of the Year until the Miami Heat got eliminated by the Charlotte Hornets in their play-in game. The game influenced Simmons to change his vote to Johnson and favor the player that will be in the playoffs with the San Antonio Spurs.
How Luka Doncic Indirectly Caused This
NBA voting is usually submitted earlier, but voters got a few extra days this season due to the appeal made by Luka Doncic’s agent. Simmons would not have had the chance to change his vote in the past due to the voting period being extended until the league made a ruling.
Both Cade Cunningham and Luka were ruled to qualify for end of season award voting after falling one game short of the 65-game minimum. The league agreed that both players had unique situations and allowed them on the voting ballots for likely All-NBA First Team selections and some MVP votes.
However, this extra time before the ruling came in allowed Simmons to change his vote before the official deadline was reached. Simmons and voters had the extra time of play-in games impacting their decisions. Other voters may have also changed their votes due to various relevant players making or missing the playoffs via the play-in games last week.
Rookie of the Year Could Be Impacted As Well
The only other major award race to have play-in implications that potentially impact its voting is the Rookie of the Year. Hornets’ rookie Kon Knueppel played two games last week and ultimately fell short of making the playoffs via a loss to the Orlando Magic.
Two poor performances from Knueppel averaging just 8.5 points on 23% shooting from the field and 8% shooting from three-point range may have soured some voters on him. Dallas Mavericks star Cooper Flagg also dominated his final month of the season.
Some voters could have originally voted Knueppel for the Hornets making the play-in thanks to his impact and then changed it after his terrible performances. Players like Knueppel and Jaquez could have an axe to grind over media personnel using the play-in games as part of the sample size when it shouldn’t really count for award voting.
Bill Simmons Changed Award Vote Due To Miami Heat Elimination