Our Picks for the 2024-25 NBA Regular Season Awards
April 23rd, 2025
(Photo: Zach Beeker/NBAE, via Getty Images, via Yahoo Sports)
The NBA regular season wrapped up days ago, and we’re already into the playoffs, and recently Payton Pritchard was announced as the winner of the Sixth Man of the Year award. Well, we’re going to make our picks for the regular season awards, anyways, even though we’re a little late in writing this up, also because it is very time consuming that gather all the data and information to make these selections, as 65 games is the requirement for players to qualify for these awards (with the apparent exception being the All-Rookie teams, as G.G. Jackson and Amen Thompson made the All-Rookie teams last year). Anyways, here is who we picked to win these awards for this season.
Our Pick for the 2024-25 NBA MVP Award:
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
(Photo: Alonzo Adams/Imagn Images, via Sports Illustrated)
This was a very close race between Jokic and Shai-Gilgeous Alexander. Jokic continues to put up sterling, impressive numbers by averaging roughly 30 points per game and averaging a triple-double nightly, but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the league by averaging nearly 33 points per game, and helped lead his team to a whopping 68 wins in the regular season, best in the NBA this year. Both make a very strong case for the MVP award, but we decided to go with selecting SGA to win the 2025 MVP award this year.
2nd: Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
3rd: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
Our Pick for the 2024-25 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award:
Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers
(Photo: Josh Gunter/Cleveland.com)
The DPOY race for us was also close, but we decided to pick Evan Mobley to win this award. Mobley has been a terrific defender on the best Eastern Conference team in the regular season, as the Cavaliers won 64 games this year, and he’s a versatile player that can defend anywhere on the floor. Dyson Daniels also had a great defensive season, as he’s led the league in steals by a large margin, and he helped the Hawks to have a respectable defense this season. Draymond Green helped Golden State have a solid defensive team this year, as the Warriors are back to being a solid playoff team this year.
Also, San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama had a terrific season for his team prior to getting injured, as he was leading the league in blocks and helped his team contend for the play-in tournament before his injury. Unfortunately, he fell short of the 65 games that is required to qualify for this award, but he had a terrific season and we wish him a full and speedy recovery.
2nd: Dyson Daniels, Atlanta Hawks
3rd: Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors
Our Pick for the 2024-25 NBA Rookie of the Year Award:
Stephon Castle, San Antonio Spurs
(Photo: Seth Wenig/Associated Press, via KSAT)
Stephon Castle made his mark with his scoring, distribution, and defensive skills this year, and he is our pick to win the Rookie of the Year award this season. Jaylen Wells and Zaccharie Risacher are also finalists, as Wells has excelled as a shooter and scorer on a solid Memphis Grizzlies’ team that is currently in the playoffs, and Zaccharie Risacher had a very strong second half, as he has excelled in a supporting role for the Hawks this year. In addition, Zach Edey had a solid season for the Grizzlies as he provided solid interior play for them in the regular season.
2nd: Jaylen Wells, Memphis Grizzlies
3rd: Zaccharie Risacher, Atlanta Hawks
Our Pick for the 2024-25 NBA Coach of the Year Award:
Kenny Atkinson, Cleveland Cavaliers
(Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press, via The News-Herald)
Kenny Atkinson did a great job of leveling the Cavaliers up to being a title contender, and he helped them engineer the league’s best offense in the regular season, as well as to 64 wins in the regular season, tops in the East. J.B. Bickerstaff helped lead a major turnaround for the Pistons, as they went from being one of the worst teams in the league under Monty Williams to being a respectable playoff team this year. Also, Ime Udoka helped elevate the Rockets even further to being a very good team in the West, as the Rockets earned the 2nd seed this year.
2nd: J.B. Bickerstaff, Detroit Pistons
3rd: Ime Udoka, Houston Rockets
Our Pick for the 2024-25 Most Improved Player Award:
Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons
(Photo: Kelsey Grant/Getty Images, via Andscape)
Detroit Pistons’ star player, Cade Cunningham was a major catalyst in helping his team make a vast turnaround to make the playoffs, as he made his first All-Star team, and he posted career highs in points, rebounds, and assists, as he averaged 26.1 points, 9.1 assists, and 5.3 rebounds per game this year. Dyson Daniels also makes a strong case for this award, as Daniels was terrific defensively and played very well in his role for Atlanta, and Zubac has been a solid starter for plenty of years with the Clippers.
2nd: Dyson Daniels, Atlanta Hawks
3rd: Ivica Zubac, Los Angeles Clippers
Our Pick for the 2024-25 NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award:
Payton Pritchard, Boston Celtics
(Photo: Paul Rutherford/Imagn Images, via Reuters)
This award has already been handed out by the NBA, and we agree that Payton Pritchard earned the right to win the Sixth Man of the Year award this year. Jerome and Beasley also had very good seasons, but Pritchard was tremendous in his role all year long, and he has given the Celtics a dynamic playmaker off the bench to give them a significant boost over the years.
2nd: Ty Jerome, Cleveland Cavaliers
3rd: Malik Beasley, Detroit Pistons
Our Pick for the 2024-25 NBA Executive of the Year Award:
Trajan Langdon, Detroit Pistons
Trajan Langdon made a series of very solid moves by acquiring Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley, and Tim Hardaway Jr., and they surrounded Cade Cunningham with reliable, dependable veterans, while adding a high-upside, defensive-minded rookie in Ron Holland that contributed to their bench, and they also made a big upgrade by hiring J.B. Bickerstaff to be their head coach. In making culture moves for the better, Langdon really helped the Pistons move forward this year and has secured them a bright future.
Also, Rob Pelinka made a big trade to land Luka Doncic in a blockbuster trade that will help them both now and in the future, and head coach J.J. Redick has done a good job of coaching the team so far. Sam Presti made very good offseason moves in signing Isaiah Hartenstein and trading to get Alex Caruso, their second round rookie Ajay Mitchell had a very good year, and the Thunder have made the right pieces to make their team deeper and better. With all this in mind, Presti’s done a commendable job in Oklahoma City. In addition, Mike Dunleavy Jr. swung a big trade to land Jimmy Butler for Golden State to inject new life for the Warriors, which has helped his team get back to the playoffs.
2nd: Rob Pelinka, Los Angeles Lakers
3rd: Sam Presti, Oklahoma City Thunder
Others Receiving Votes:
Mike Dunleavy Jr., Golden State Warriors
Our Pick for the 2024-25 Clutch Player of the Year Award:
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
(Photo: Denver Post, via Getty Images, via NBC Sports)
Jokic is the person that can be trusted down the stretch of a close game, based on his and his team’s performance this year. Jalen Brunson and Anthony Edwards have also been dependable down the stretch, but Jokic has been elite, especially in crunch time, and he’s helped the Nuggets win 50 games in the regular season.
2nd: Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
3rd: Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
Our Picks for the 2024-25 NBA All-Rookie 1st Team:
Zach Edey, Memphis Grizzlies
Kel’el Ware, Miami Heat
Jaylen Wells, Memphis Grizzlies
Zaccharie Risacher, Atlanta Hawks
Stephon Castle, San Antonio Spurs
Our Picks for the 2024-25 NBA All-Rookie 2nd Team:
Donovan Clingan, Portland Trail Blazers
Jonathan Mogbo, Toronto Raptors
Tristan Da Silva, Orlando Magic
Ron Holland, Detroit Pistons
Dalton Knecht, Los Angeles Lakers
Others Receiving Votes:
Jared McCain, Philadelphia 76ers, Yves Missi, New Orleans Pelicans, Kyle Filipowski, Utah Jazz
Our Picks for the 2024-25 NBA All-Defensive 1st Team:
Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers
Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors
Jaden McDaniels, Minnesota Timberwolves
Amen Thompson, Houston Rockets
Dyson Daniels, Atlanta Hawks
Our Picks for the 2024-25 NBA All-Defensive 2nd Team:
Jarrett Allen, Cleveland Cavaliers
OG Anunoby, New York Knicks
Jalen Williams, Oklahoma City Thunder
Luguentz Dort, Oklahoma City Thunder
Derrick White, Boston Celtics
Others Receiving Votes:
Kris Dunn, Los Angeles Clippers, Bam Adebayo, Miami Heat, Rudy Gobert, Minnesota Timberwolves
Our Picks for the 2024-25 NBA All-NBA 1st Team:
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
Our Picks for the 2024-25 NBA All-NBA 2nd Team:
Alperen Şengün, Houston Rockets
LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers
Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers
Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
Our Picks for the 2024-25 NBA All-NBA 3rd Team:
Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves
Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons
James Harden, Los Angeles Clippers
Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
Others Receiving Votes:
Pascal Siakam, Indiana Pacers
This concludes our write-up for our picks for the 2024-25 NBA regular season awards. It will be exciting to watch the NBA playoffs, as it is already underway, and it will be fun to see what will happen in this postseason. Thanks for reading.