Predicting which Sacramento Kings players will win awards this season
By Mat Issa
For a team that is as fun and as good as the Sacramento Kings are, they don't get the recognition they deserve. But do you know what is a great way to earn the eyes of the national audience? Have players/coaches on your team that are in the mix to win awards. Do the Kings have anyone like this? In this post, we name a couple of candidates who could walk away with some hardwood.
Two points worth mentioning before we begin. First, this isn't a prediction of who in the NBA will win which awards. This is a prediction of which Kings players could realistically win an award. And second, the awards we are talking about here are Most Valuable Player (MVP), Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY), Sixth Man of the Year (6MOY), Rookie of the Year (ROY), Most Improved Player of the Year (MIP), Coach of the Year (COY), and Clutch Player of the Year (CPY).
Also, for those wondering, the last Kings players/coaches to win one of these awards was in 2022-23. That season, De'Aaron Fox won the first ever CPY, and head coach Mike Brown took home the COY honors.
Now, without further ado, let the games begin.
Sixth Man of the Year (6MOY): Malik Monk
This one is pretty simple. Malik Monk very well would have won this award last season had he not suffered a season-ending injury that forced him to miss the final nine games of the season (he ended up finishing second, narrowly losing out to Naz Reid). As long as he doesn't get moved into the starting lineup, Monk will be in the mix for the 6MOY award.