Three former Wildcats named finalists for major NBA awards

Former Kentucky Wildcats once again dominated NBA headlines in the 2022-23 season, but it wasn’t the usual suspects.

In the early years of John Calipari’s head coaching tenure at UK, the Big Blue Nation was accustomed to seeing the likes of Anthony Davis, John Wall, and DeMarcus Cousins making waves at the highest level of basketball possible. But over a decade after Calipari’s arrival in Lexington, a new batch of one-time ‘Cats have quickly begun to take over the league.

In particular, Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Sacramento Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox, and New York Knicks shooting guard Immanuel Quickley made significant impacts on their respective teams during the ’22-23 season — all for different reasons, too.

On Friday, the NBA announced the three finalists for each of its seven major individual awards: Clutch Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player, Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, and Coach of the Year. All three of the aforementioned Wildcats were nominated for an award.

Gilgeous-Alexander is a finalist for Most Improved Player, Fox a finalist for Clutch Player of the Year, and Quickley a finalist for Sixth Man of the Year. Both Fox and Quickley are projected to win their awards while SGA is expected to come in second in MIP behind Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen, according to VegasInsider.

The finalists for the seven awards honoring top performers from the 2022-23 NBA regular season ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/rHyjQ375Gf

— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 14, 2023

And the finalists are…

Fox is a no-brainer choice for the inaugural Clutch Player of the Year award. Now in his sixth season, he leads the NBA in clutch stats (defined by a game where the score is within five points and under five minutes left) such as points, field goals made, field goal percentage, paint points, and usage rate. When Sacramento, which finished third in the Western Confernce and made the Playoffs for the first time since the 2005-06 season, needs a timely bucket, Fox is the one who makes it all happen.

Quickley is in a much tighter race for Sixth Man of the Year, running neck-and-neck with Boston Celtics point guard Malcolm Brogdon throughout most of the season, but he’s seemingly built a lead down the stretch. Quickley has played 81 games for the Knicks this season, with 60 coming off the bench. The third-year guard is averaging 14.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.0 steals per outing for the Knicks, which earned the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

As for Gilgeous-Alexander, while he’s almost assured to make an All-NBA Team, he’ll likely finish second for Most Improved Player. SGA was spectacular this season for the Thunder, which saw its run come to an end earlier this week in the NBA Play-In round. The fifth-year floor general averaged 31.4 points (up from 24.5 in ’21-22), 4.8 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 1.6 steals per game for OKC while shooting a career-high 51.0 percent from the field, 34.5 percent from deep, and a career-high 90.5 percent from the free throw line. If it weren’t for Markannen going from a role player in Cleveland (14.8 PPG) to a bonafide All-Star during his first season in Utah (25.6 PPG), SGA takes this award with ease.

Regardless of what happens, it was another terrific season for Gilgeous-Alexander who, like Fox and Quickley, expect to be some of the faces of the NBA for the next 5-10 years. The brand is strong, folks.