Sixth Man of the Year is one of the most challenging awards to predict preseason for one simple reason: The players often best in this role get bumped up to starter (sometimes to cover an injury, sometimes to get more minutes).
That is the case with some familiar names at the top of this year’s preseason Sixth Man of the Year odds. For example, the reigning award winner, Tyler Herro out of Miami, wants to start this season and may well get a chance.
NBC’s partner at Points Bet has its preseason odds out for the 2023 Sixth Man of the Year award and there are a lot of familiar names at the top of the list with Herro. Here are the top 12:
Jordan Poole (Warriors) +400
Tyler Herro (Heat) +650
Malcolm Brogdon (Celtics) +1000
Bones Hyland (Nuggets) +1400
Jordan Clarkson (Jazz) +1800
Spencer Dinwiddie (Mavericks) +2000
Norman Powell (Clippers) +2000
Brandon Clarke (Grizzlies) +2200
Anfernee Simons (Trail Blazers) +2500
Kevin Love (Cavaliers) +2500
Immanuel Quickley (Knicks) +2500
Bogdan Bogdanovic (Hawks) +2500
A few quick thoughts on that list:
• Poole deserves to be the favorite. He very well could take home the award.
• Jordan Clarkson has won Sixth Man of the Year before and is always a good bet to be in the mix as a volume scorer off the bench, but his chances to win will depend on where he gets traded. He may be the next Jazz veteran on the move.
• As noted above, Herro wants to start and likely will get the chance in Miami.
• Kevin Love finished second in the voting last season, and his team is about to be in a much bigger spotlight and win a lot more games. He has accepted his role and is a real threat to win this award.
• Bones Hyland is a sneaky good call if he can make a leap in his second season. He certainly is going to get the opportunity.
• Norman Powell might be my pick, leading a good Clippers bench on a team that will win a lot of games, but how many games will he start this season? It could be a lot of Paul George and Kawhi Leonard can’t stay healthy.
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Poole, Herro, Brogdon early betting favorites for Sixth Man of the Year originally appeared on NBCSports.com
