Naz Reid needs to make some room in his trophy case.
The Minnesota Timberwolves big man was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year for the 2023-24 season, the league announced on Wednesday.
Reid, 24, is the first player in franchise history to take home Sixth Man of the Year honours and just the third undrafted player in the NBA to ever achieve such a feat. He joins John Starks (1996-97) and Darrell Armstrong (1998-99) as the only others do so.
In his fifth NBA season, Reid set career-high marks for points (13.5) and rebounds (5.2) while significantly improving his production from beyond the arc.
Reid’s best three-point shooting season previously was 35 per cent but in 2023-24 he hit an impressive 41 per cent of his attempts from deep. The stretch-five knocked down 169 three-pointers which was more than his previous two seasons combined (132).
With the steadiness of Reid off the pine, the Timberwolves finished the regular season with a 56-26 record, the second-best in franchise history, earning the No. 3 seed in the NBA playoffs.
Reid beat out Sacramento Kings guard Malik Monk who finished in second, and Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis who came in third. It ended up being a close race between Reid and Monk with the big man taking home the hardware by a thin margin of 10 points.
Minnesota is currently up 2-0 on the Phoenix Suns in round one of the NBA Playoffs, looking to win a post-season series for the first time since 2004. They’ll return to action for Game 3 on Friday.
