Naz Reid, who closed season as starter, wins NBA Sixth Man of the Year

For most of the 2023-24 season, Naz Reid was considered a long shot win the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award. Then he was inserted into the starting lineup in early March and posted his best stretch of the season for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

That propelled Reid to win the award over Sacramento Kings guard Malik Monk in one of the closest awards races in NBA history.

Those two finished with nearly identical vote counts, but Reid earned two more first-place votes than Monk to take home the award, the league announced Wednesday:

The complete voting results for the 2023-24 Kia NBA Sixth Man of the Year. pic.twitter.com/wfP9hbqTOQ

— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 24, 2024

Reid became the third undrafted player in league history to win the award - joining John Starks (1996-97) and Darrell Armstrong (1998-99) - and the first player to earn the honor for the Timberwolves.

He also became the first non-guard to win the award since big man Montrezl Harrell (2019-20) and just the second in the last 13 years. That's notable for an award that typically rewards ball-dominant scorers above all else.

Yet the way Reid won this award down the stretch might be the most interesting footnote of all.

Naz Reid wins Sixth Man after stellar run as starter

While Reid was fully deserving of winning this year's award after his breakout season with the Timberwolves, he won it in a particularly ironic way given the nature of the award itself.

The eligibility to win the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award is simple: a player must come off the bench in more games than they start.

Sure enough, Reid came off the bench for 67 of his 81 games this year, averaging 12.6 points and 4.9 rebounds in those contests as a key reserve for the No. 3 seed in the West.

But after Karl-Anthony Towns (knee) went down in early March, the Timberwolves turned to Reid to fill the void. He did so admirably, averaging 17.6 points and 7.0 rebounds in nearly 30 minutes per game.

Those 14 starts ultimately helped carry Reid to the catbird seat in this race, especially after Monk (knee) missed the final nine games for the Kings.

Naz Reid with CLUTCH buckets for Minnesota 🥶 pic.twitter.com/ox6eFft491

— NBA TV (@NBATV) March 9, 2024

Who had the most starts of any player to win Sixth Man of the Year?

Before Reid won it this year, we hadn't seen a Sixth Man of the Year winner start more than 10 games since Lou Williams boasted 19 starts in 2017-18. But those are hardly the only players to start double-digit games in their award-winning season.

In fact, of the 41 previous winners before Reid, eight of them started at least 20 games for their team in their award-winning season. That's more than the number of players who started zero games (seven).

Two of the first five winners, Kevin McHale (1984-85) and Ricky Pierce (1986-87), each started 31 games for their respective clubs. Philadelphia 76ers guard Aaron McKie started 33 games to win this award in 2000-01.

None of the 42 overall winners started more games than Lamar Odom, who opened on the floor in 35 of his 82 games (42.7%) for the Los Angeles Lakers in 2010-11.

In the end, Reid's 14 starts rank 13th among the 42 overall winners for this award. Curiously, his minutes per game (24.2) rank fourth-lowest on that list even with his elevated playing time as a starter in March and April.

Nevertheless, his strong showing all season long - and especially down the stretch - helped him secure the NBA's top individual honor for reserves.

Most starts by NBA Sixth Man of the Year winner