NBA Announces Finalists for Defensive Player of the Year, Other End-of-Season Awards

With the NBA regular season over and done with, it's time for end-of-season awards to be announced. Sunday brought the first step in that process.

While voting occurs at season's end the league has shifted the dates around in recent years for awards such as MVP and Rookie of the Year. In the past everything was unveiled very soon after the final regular-season game. Over the last few seasons, though, the NBA has taken to revealing the winners during the playoffs with all the attention the postseason brings. Based on past timelines, the winners of this year's awards will be announced sometime in May.

But the first step in the process (no matter when it might finish) is the revealing of the finalists. The league gives a shortlist of finalists for all the major individual awards players and coaches can win for their stellar showings during the regular season.

Sunday brought those shortlists. During the second day of NBA playoff action the league unveiled the finalists for all the prestigious end-of-season awards that will be given out in the next month or so.

They did so in segments. During pregame ahead of Game 1 for the Pistons-Magic series, the NBA announced the finalists for Defensive Player of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Most Improved Player and Sixth Man of the Year. At halftime of the same contest they will announce the finalists for MVP, Defensive Player of the Year and Coach of the Year.

Below you'll find a list of all the finalists the NBA has revealed so far.

Defensive Player of the Year finalists

Overview: This award is Wembanyama's to lose. The generational Spurs talent led the NBA in blocks by a wide margin with 3.1 per game. Moreover the impact of his defense is obvious every moment he is on the court. Wemby scares professional basketball players too much to shoot anywhere near him most of the time. It's unlike anything we've seen in the modern NBA. He is all but guaranteed to win this.

Holmgren and Thompson had good years, though, that deserved to be recognized with an appearance on the shortlist of finalists.

Sixth Man of the Year finalists

Overview: Johnson is the rightful leader in the clubhouse for the reward given to the best reserve in the NBA. The seventh-year forward is averaging 13.2 points and 5.4 rebounds in 23.3 minutes per game. He has been invaluable for a 60-win Spurs team as the first guy off the bench who is laser-focused on giving San Antonio whatever the moment calls for-whether that be hard-nosed defense, hustle or aggressively finding his shot.

Jacquez Jr. and Hardaway Jr. are no slouches, though. In Miami, Jacquez Jr. averaged 15.4 points per night in the more traditional mold of 6MOY candidates, an instant-offense sub who was a big part of the Heat's offensive success this season. Hardaway Jr. is similar for Denver; the veteran's scoring instincts led to a successful season in which he averaged 13.5 ppg while appearing in all 82 contests.

Most Improved Player finalists

Overview: The MIP race is very competitive this season with a lot of players who'd make for shoe-in favorites in other years. But with the dust of the regular season settled, we have our finalists.

Avdija and Duren both took leaps from good, useful players to genuine All-NBA contenders; as a result both made their first All-Star teams this year. The fact that both of their teams made the playoffs (and in Duren's case won 60 games) lends further credence to the idea their leaps were impactful in ways that helped their team rather than stuffed the stat sheet.

Wlaker-Alexander is the biggest surprise of the season to many. The former Wolves reserve was not expected to take on a much bigger role when he signed in Atlanta over the offseason as a free agent. But he made the rather difficult leap from a dependable bench player to a legitimate starter capable of scoring 20 points per night. All three would be very deserving winners of this year's MIP award.

Clutch Player of the Year finalists

Overview: Clutch Player of the Year is a fun award the NBA introduced in ‘23. As you probably figured out it's given to the player who best performed in "clutch" minutes, defined by the NBA as games where the score was within five points with five minutes remaining. Everybody's personal definition varies slightly but the concept stays consistent-this award belongs to the player opponents hate to see with the ball with the game on the line.

There's no doubt all three of this year's finalist fall into that category. Murray's jumper is silky-smooth and he can get it off against anybody with Nikola Jokić screening for him. Edwards can wield his athleticism to slice through defenses like a knife through butter at any moment and he clearly enjoys doing so with the game on the line. SGA needs no introduction as the reigning MVP who was forced to close more games than last year while leading a banged-up Thunder squad.

A big-time list of names.

More NBA Playoffs From Sports Illustrated

Listen to SI's NBA podcast, Open Floor, below or on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on SI's YouTube channel.

• NBA Playoffs Scores, Live Updates: Pistons Look to Extend Dominant Run for Top Seeds in Game 1 vs. Magic
• Peter's Points: NBA Best Bets Today (Predictions, Prop Bets for Jayson Tatum, Victor Wembanyama, Pistons, Thunder)
• Warriors Season Grades: Could the Band Break Up After Golden State's Play-In Exit?
• NBA Playoffs: Lakers Steal Game 1 as Rockets Offense Collapses Without Kevin Durant

This article was originally published on www.si.com as NBA Announces Finalists for Defensive Player of the Year, Other End-of-Season Awards.

Copyright ABG-SI LLC. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is a registered trademark of ABG-SI LLC. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published April 19, 2026 at 3:55 PM.