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Immanuel Quickley, the backup point guard from the New York Knicks, is now +500 odds to win the 2023 NBA Sixth Man of the Year. Quickley has been on fire recently, and his stellar play on both ends of the court is one of the reasons why the Knicks won seven games in a row and moved into fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings.
Quickley is currently third on DraftKings’ NBA awards board. Malcolm Brogdon, a combo guard and sixth man for the Boston Celtics, is the betting favorite at -200 odds. Swingman Norman Powell from the Los Angeles Clippers is second on the board and slightly ahead of Quickley at +450 odds.
A guard won the Sixth Man of the Year in 10 out of the last 11 seasons. Montrezl Harrell, a backup center with the Clippers, won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year in the 2019-20 season. He’s the only non-guard to win the award since the 2010-11 season.
Shooting guard Tyler Herro from the Miami Heat won the Sixth Man of the Year last season by averaging 20.7 points per game. Herro isn’t eligible to defend his title this season because he’s now a starter with the Heat.
MSG Loves IQ: Immanuel Quickley (+500)
The red-hot Knicks (37-27) are 9-1 in their last 10 games and have won seven games in a row. The Knicks are currently the #5 seed in the Eastern Conference playoff standings and are only 1.5 games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers in fourth place.
In his third season with the Knicks, Quickley averages a career-high 12.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game. His numbers are impressive, considering he’s coming off the bench and averaging only 27.7 minutes per game. He’s shooting 35.9% from 3-point range and 44.3% from the floor.
Quickley averaged 15.4 points per game in January and tallied double digits in scoring in 13 out of 14 games. He scored double-digit points in each of the last nine games. He’s averaging 15.7 points per game during the Knicks’ recent winning streak.
Oddsmakers took notice of Quickley over the last two months, so he moved up the board and is now +500 odds to win the NBA Sixth Man of the Year.
Quickley anchors the second unit for the Knicks, including forward Obi Toppin, big men Jericho Sims and Isaiah Hartenstein, and newly-acquired guard Josh Hart. Fans at Madison Square Garden get whipped up into a frenzy as soon as Quickley stands up from his seat on the bench and makes his way to the scorer’s table before checking into the game.
Consensus Favorite: Malcolm Brogdon (-200)
The Celtics won the Eastern Conference last season but lost to the Golden State Warriors in the 2022 NBA Finals. The Warriors exposed the Celtics’ thin bench in that series, and the Celtics made several bold moves in the offseason to bolster their bench with veteran scorers. They added Malcolm Brogdon in a trade with the Indiana Pacers– a huge upgrade.
Brogdon would be a starter on almost any other team in the NBA, but the Celtics wanted him to provide an offensive spark off the bench while still maintaining a high level of defense. Brogdon averages 14.6 points per game this season, and he’s the team’s third-best scorer as the sixth man. He also contributes 4.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game while shooting a blistering 46% from 3-point range.
Since the Celtics acquired him, Brogdon has been one of the betting favorites to win Sixth Man of the Year. He’s currently the consensus favorite at -200 odds, but Brogdon has to worry about maintaining his health and the emergence of Quickley.
Overall, Brogdon appeared in only 70% of all games during his first six seasons as a pro. He missed 59 games in his first three seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks and missed 80 games in three seasons with the Pacers. He missed 46 games last season, and the Pacers were happy to deal the injury-prone Brogdon to the Celtics.
So far this season, Brogdon only missed nine games with the Celtics, but a late-season injury in the final 20 games could derail his chances of winning the Sixth Man of the Year.
Top 5: Norman Powell (+500), Tyrese Maxey (+1500), and Russell Westbrook (+5000)
Powell is the third-best scorer for the Los Angeles Clippers as their sixth man. He averages 16.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game off the bench while shooting 41% from 3-point range. Powell is second on the awards board at +500 odds to win Sixth Man of the Year.
Tyrese Maxey, a guard with the Philadelphia 76ers, is currently fourth overall at +1500 odds. He began the season as the starting point guard until he sustained a foot injury. When he returned from his injury, Maxey came off the bench as the Sixth Man. Head coach Doc Rivers liked how the offense flowed with Maxey as the sixth man, so he remained in that role.
Point guard Russell Westbrook began the season as the sixth man with the Los Angeles Lakers. He reluctantly embraced his demotion but quickly found his groove. Westbrook competed with Brogdon as the early betting favorite to win the NBA Sixth Man of the Year, but he’s cooled down since then.
Strona Lakers traded Westbrook to the Utah Jazz shortly before the NBA trade deadline. He didn’t play any games with the Jazz, as the two parties arranged a contract buyout. Westbrook became a free agent and returned to Los Angeles to play with the Clippers.
It’s uncommon to see two players from the same team compete for Sixth Man of the Year honors, but this is the case with the Clippers due to a trade. Westbrook just joined the team while Powell established himself as the first player off the bench all season.
The Clippers lost four consecutive games with Westbrook on the team, which won’t help his campaign to win the Sixth Man of the Year. Westbrook’s odds slipped in recent weeks, and he’s fifth on the NBA awards board at +5000 odds.
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